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SunSpotWatch.com Imminent Server Failure - Donations Requested

By Tomas Hood NW7US

Editor’s Note - This article originally appeared on Facebook’s Space Weather + Ham Radio Resources on 2024-08-28. SunSpotWatch is one of many independent services that helps make Amateur Radio such an engaging activity, provided by individuals at their expense and considerable time and effort. These kind of unexpected, major expenses can be existential issues to continuing such services, thus I decided to run this appeal as an article in Zero Retries.

Urgent: Your Help Is Critical!

Reason: Imminent Server Hardware Failure (28 July 2024)

I need your help. As a patron of this page and of our website and related resources of SunSpotWatch dot com, you can directly help keep the service and resources up and running. Time is of the essence, though.

Background:

This page is the Facebook home for the main website, SunSpotWatch dot com. SunSpotWatch dot com is a public, non-commercial educational resource for amateur radio hobbyists, pigeon racers, military users, and other people interested in space weather and the propagation of radio waves in the shortwave spectrum. There are other resources, also tied to this.

The Issue:

The website lives on a server that has been running for years. The server that stores, and presents to the public, the SunSpotWatch dot com website, as well as all related resources (the space weather RSS feed, the live update automation to X, Facebook, and other social media sites, as well as other hobby websites like OliviaDigitalMode dot org), is failing. If the server fails completely, before we have a solution for this problem, all of that public resource will go dark.

The IT staff at the co-location server farm is mandating that we migrate our failing server data to a new server that has full redundancy, automated backups, and better resources. Right now, the IT staff must restart the server nearly daily to keep it alive because the hardware is failing. This failure is hardware and not storage.

The old server is NOT repairable. I must move everything to a new server ASAP, hopefully this last weekend of July.

Here's the issue: the costs of provisioning the new server, as well as necessary IT resource fees, are more than I can do on my own right now.

How You Can Help:

Please donate toward this repair and migration cost. When you donate, below, you can add a note to your donation that you wish to be listed on a "contributor highlight" page, once we are finished moving the website to the new server. Will you help out, today?

Time is of the essence! Donate through the following link:

Thank you. Your help, today, is greatly appreciated.

For those interested in a short history of this page, our group, and most importantly, our website, SunSpotWatch dot com, here is a reader's digest:

Since the inception of this FB page, years ago -- since February 22, 2010, to be exact -- it has been extremely rare that financial donations are mentioned at all. As a matter of fact, until this year, a request for donations toward the effort to keep the website, the RSS feed, the X(Twitter) feed, and other resources going with fresh information hasn't been made in many years!

Right now, The website is getting a remake - we are overhauling the website. Since the website is NOT a commercial business, this is done in spare time and at my expense. I am a senior software engineer, and an amateur radio operator who loves space weather. The whole new website is using modern technology (such as Next.Js), and will be very informative about both space weather and the propagation of shortwave radio waves.

My website was the FIRST ever non-commercial, non-governmental website on the topic, on the 'net (started in the 1990s). While our technology is sorely in need of upgrade, we have never missed a day in all these years. When I created this page, it made sense because on social media, discussion can be had. I am looking at ways to make the website somewhat interactive, as well.

Your help to move this forward by solving the failing hardware issue with a donation toward the new server, and by being a part of this page, is inspiring.

Thank you,

Tomas, NW7US

Note: I pay for the hosting, the bandwidth, etc., all out of my pocket, since starting the website in the 1990s. I do not make any money from this - it is a gift to the community (ham radio, science, and so on).

Why M17 Is Significant - Part 2

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

This is a followup on my article in Zero Retries 0163 - Why M17 Is Significant. After this issue publishes, I’ll update that title to Why M17 Is Significant - Part 1.

While I had planned to do an eventual followup, in the days immediately afterward, I received so much good info that only a week later, there’s ample information to justify “Part 2”.

Attributions (or Lack of) - Apologies

Apologies in advance when I don’t get attributions for work done on these projects completely correct in this article. Given the nature of M17 as a “highly decentralized” project, by folks that prefer to develop rather than “document and promote”, it’s hard for a third party like me to provide accurate attributions. I do the best I can with the information I’m able to find. In an eventual, comprehensive treatment of M17 (like a book), accurate and complete attributions will have to be done.

…

The M17 project by Ira Brodsky KC9TC

This is an open-source digital voice standard which promotes innovation, and which should attract young 'hardware hackers' to amateur radio.
Introduction
The freedom to design, build, and experiment has always been an important part of amateur radio. As our hobby migrates to digital voice technology, that freedom may be limited by proprietary technology used to code and decode the signals. What experimenters need is an open-source digital standard, ie a standard that anyone can use without having to buy a license or pay royalties, and that anyone can extend or modify provided that they share their code with the amateur-radio community.

This was an excellent 3-page article in the May 2024 issue RSGB’s RadCom magazine. After last week’s article, a Zero Retries reader sent me photos of the article which I read eagerly. (No, I won’t share / forward - please don’t ask.)

I was impressed enough with the article that I ordered a copy of that issue for £5.95 ($7.55) from RSGB. Surprisingly, there was no additional shipping charge. The process is:

Shop > Type “RadCom” in the search box > RADCOM BACK ISSUES (Radcom & QST) > and select May. Note that RSGB only stocks the past 12 months of back issues, so if you’d like to do the same, order in time for them to have this issue in stock.

This article would be a perfect introduction to M17 if it could be made available through the M17 Project, but it is copyrighted and available only by paying RSGB. I trust that the irony is obvious that an article about an open source project, of which all of the detail is publicly available for anyone to access, worldwide… but this article is only available behind a paywall (or buying a physical magazine).

The article mentioned a number of M17 implementations that I wasn’t aware of (or just don’t remember), including:

The WPSD Project - WPSD is a next-generation digital voice software suite & distribution for amateur radio use, enjoyed by many thousands of hams around the globe. It is used for personal hotspots and repeaters alike. It supports M17, DMR, D-Star, Yaesu System Fusion (YSF/C4FM), P25, NXDN digital voice modes & POCSAG data/paging.
mvoice - M17 Digital Voice, now using FLTK - M17 Digital Voice , mvoice, is a fully functional, graphical repeater. It uses David Rowe’s Codec 2 and operates as a complete M17 repeater, only there is no RF component. It can Link to M17 reflectors and it can also do routing! It works best with a USB-based headset with microphone. mvoice uses the default pulseaudio/ALSA input and output device, so for most versions of linux, all you need to do is plug your headset in and you should be ready to go.
mrfed - The mrefd reflector is for connecting M17 clients together. mrefd can be configured with up to 26 different channels. M17 clients (M17 repeaters, M17 hot-spots and other MREFD reflectors) can be linked to a channel. An incoming M17 voice stream from one of the clients will be heard by all the other clients.
Encrypted voice streams will pass through an mrefd channel, but only if they are configured for it.
DroidStar - This software connects to M17, Fusion (YSF/FCS, DN and VW modes are supported), DMR, P25, NXDN, D-STAR (REF/XRF/DCS) reflectors and AllStar nodes (as an IAX2 client) over UDP. It is compatible with all of the AMBE USB devices out there (ThumbDV, DVstick 30, DVSI, etc). It also supports MMDVM modems and can be used as a hotspot, or as a stand-alone transceiver via direct mode to the MMDVM device. This software is open source and uses the cross platform C++ library called Qt. It will build and run on Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS. No USB device support for iOS though (AMBE vocoder or MMDVM). It should also build and run on any other posix platform that has Qt available (xxxBSD, Solaris, etc). This software is provided as-is and no support is available.
SDRPlusPlus - SDR++, The bloat-free SDR software - Features:
- Multi VFO
- Wide hardware support (both through SoapySDR and dedicated modules)
- SIMD accelerated DSP
- Cross-platform (Windows, Linux, MacOS and BSD)
- Full waterfall update when possible. Makes browsing signals easier and more pleasant
- Modular design (easily write your own plugins)
- One of the “Decoders” available for compilation (not included as a default) is m17_decoder
OpenWebRX - OpenWebRX is an open source web-based software defined radio application that allows users to share access to one ore more SDR devices using a browser. M17 support was added in v1.0.0.
- "Software defined radio": All processing is done in software, using digital signal processing ("DSP") technology.
- "Web-based": Users do not need to install anything on their PC; all that's required to be able to use OpenWebRX is an HTML5 capable browser.
- "Shared access": Multiple users can use the same receiver at the same time, and can listen to different frequencies and modes (some restrictions apply).
- "Open source": The code for all parts of OpenWebRX is available under free and open source ("FOSS") licenses.

DroidStar is a perfect example that I have a lot more to learn about M17. Prior to reading this article, I was only aware of DroidStar as an M17 client app for Android devices. I’m delighted to see that it will also run on a MacOS… which is, for me… “Great… now another short term project to get started on”.

The article concludes with:

M17 and the future of amateur radio
In an increasingly digital and internet-connected world, it's essential that radio amateurs continue to develop their digital voice/data capabilities. An open-source standard is needed so that the entire amateur radio community, licensed operators as well as equipment manufacturers, can contribute to the process. M17 appears to be well- positioned top help make that happen.

Well stated, KC9TC… well stated!

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Wikipedia - M17 (amateur radio)

Speaking of good reference material on M17… of course there is a Wikipedia article for M17… I frequently reference Wikipedia articles to elaborate on certain obscure topics (example - OFDM) that are mentioned in passing in articles in Zero Retries. But for some reason, I never thought to look up M17 in Wikipedia, but I should have. The intro there is an excellent brief description of M17:

M17 is a digital radio modulation mode developed by Wojciech Kaczmarski (amateur radio call sign SP5WWP) et al. ^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] M17 is primarily designed for voice communications on the VHF amateur radio bands, and above. The project received a grant from the Amateur Radio Digital Communications in 2021^[7] and 2022.^[8] The protocol has been integrated into several hardware and software projects^[^{citation needed}^]. In 2021, Kaczmarski received the ARRL Technical Innovation Award for developing an open-source digital radio communication protocol, leading to further advancements in amateur radio.^[9]

Overall, this article is pretty good, but it needs some updating from folks with good knowledge of the current state of M17 (such as a number of Zero Retries readers). For example, the new CS7000 M17 radio isn’t mentioned in the Hardware Support subsection.

On the m17-users email list, I asked for volunteers to update this article. Thus, perhaps by the time this issue is published, the needed update might be complete.

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M17 is Open Source, an Open Specification, Largely Software, Thus Can Be Extended

Near the conclusion of Why M17 Is Significant in Zero Retries 0163, was this subsection:

Why Does All This Matter? The Big Picture?

One of the reasons to try / adopt M17 is once there’s some real momentum, it’s all open source so it can get improved, forked, hacked, extended, transmogrified, etc. No other Amateur Radio digital voice system is as well defined as M17 (that I know of), especially the sticky (patented) digital voice chip.

Wojciech (Woj) Kaczmarski SP5WWP reminded me about the mention of the recent experimental inclusion of digital signatures (authentication) in M17.

That development nicely illustrates my point:

M17 can be improved, forked, hacked, extended, transmogrified, etc.

This development was mentioned in Zero Retries 0159 - M17 Experimental Authentication Signatures (slightly rewritten for this article).

ECDSA is Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm.

Per M17 Project on Mastodon:

Finally some good news regarding digital signatures. I've been experimenting with ST's CMOX library and just got 160-bit ECDSA to run on the Module17. It takes around 8.25 ms to sign a 16-byte M17 voice stream digest. The signature can be appended to the voice stream. The curve used is Brainpool P-160 R1, with secp256r1 signing takes a tad under 15 ms.

In the future, users might be able to generate ECDSA key pairs and use the private key for M17 stream signing. Then, by sharing the public component, allow the rest to perform identity checks. No more impersonation.
Our protocol implementation has just been updated with experimental ECDSA signature support based on the secp256r1 curve. No signature verification has been added yet.
https://github.com/M17-Project/M17_Implementations/tree/auth
Implementing digital signatures in M17 - part 2. Looks like both encoder and decoder work together and the latter is able to verify stream signatures now.

GitHub (`auth` and `crypto` branches are the most interesting):
https://github.com/M17-Project/M17_Implementations

See also micro-ecc - ECDH and ECDSA for 8-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit processors.

The idea is that in addition to the digitized voice or data and overhead data, an authenticated M17 transmission appends a private key that can be authenticated with checking it against a person’s public key. SP5WWP commented:

The signature occupies 4 last data frames of the stream. It is generated after the data transmission has finished. When there's no more user data to transmit, a hash based on all the contents is calculated. That hash value is then signed with the user's private key. The assumption here is that there would be a central, trusted public key directory (a database with callsign-key pairs). That would ideally be run by IARU or some other international organization. I'm aware that IARU does not have enough human resources to run this, tho.
Key pair generation is trivial (under Linux CLI, it's a one-liner). An experimental (but already fully-functional, even with strong encryption) implementation is already available in our "M17_Implementations" repository ("main" branch).

This is a powerful capability for Amateur Radio given that we can quickly adapt such technology. For example, it could be used in emergency communications scenarios to insure that transmissions can be verified to be from authorized stations. I can imagine a future radio device that displays the callsign of a received signal…

✅ when the transmitted callsign matches the signature / public key on file
❌ when the transmitted callsign does not match the signature / public key on file.

The takeaway from this development isn’t that this particular experimental implementation isn’t complete, or perhaps has some issues, it’s that with an open source system such as M17… such things are possible!

…

Buying an Assembled Module 17

Zero Retries Annual Paid Subscriber Prefers to Remain Anonymous 15 emailed me to blame me for their purchase of two Module 17 units 🤨 Fair enough, I’ll accept that “blame”… but I wasn’t aware (that I recall) that assembled Module 17 units were available for on-demand purchase from AliExpress for $55:

LILYGO® & Module17-Revision 0.1e STM32 Development Board M17 Modem Board With DE-9 Connector Microphone Speaker Interface Switch.

Be sure to select

M17-R0.1E With OLED

In comparison, the only information on the M17 website about buying a Module 17 is

How to order Module17s at JLCPCB

Months ago in a private (or public?) discussion about Module 17, I stated that it was “good enough” to release as a “just buy it and use it” product to enable folks to generate some M17 radio transmissions. Apparently someone took that idea and went forward with it.

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It Takes a Village (or an Email List) to Fully Understand M17

Tony Langdon VK3JED/VK3IRL on the m17-users email list:

I can add that Jonathan Naylor G4KLX was responsible for adding M17 support to the MMDVM project (which is also his work). [See also mmdvm.com.] He also created M17Client, which is client side (radio terminal) software that used a MMDVM board as a user radio. This works with both the modems (paired with a 9600 capable radio, makes an excellent M17 radio) and hotspots (creating a QRP self contained transceiver). Only other thing required is a USB sound device and some form of display usually HDMI or Nextion, though I got it working using a remote X server.
I've been involved in testing the MMDVM implementations of M17. I've also played with the TNC3 [obsoleted, new version is the TNC4] (unfortunately the app doesn't like my Android phone, which makes it a challenge to get working reliably), and today I use a Module17 into my own local M17 systems. The M17Client is still available as an alternative or for demonstrating a different implementation. As your article states, the different implementations work well with each other.
You missed M17Tools, which is a suite of software that runs on a host PC/Pi/Mac etc and can use a soundcard interface (Digirig is a recommended all in one interface that can pass baseband) to do M17 with a 9600 capable radio. At this time, M17Client doesn't like my Windows laptop, but others have reported good results, especially on Linux hosts.

VK3JED added:

Also, a lot of early IP only M17 activity was done by directly connecting to reflectors using mvoice or DroidStar. These methods are still available today, and are in common use.

See above for links to mvoice and DroidStar.

On the same thread, Tom Early N7TAE contributed:

I am pretty much an open-source fanatic, so when I heard of the M17 Project in early 2020, I had a few initial conversations with Steve, KC2AWV, on the M17 IRC channel and I was very excited about the project.
I was working on another project that was taking most of my free hours, but finished it up in the late summer of 2020. I knew I could help the M17 Project, in at least a small way. I got back on the IRC channel and started asking question about M17 internet packets. That part of the spec wasn't yet nailed down so had several email exchanges with Mike, W2FBI and Steve. The three of us settled enough on the specifics, that I squirreled myself away with my trusty laptop.
I wanted to write a reflector for M17. I already knew its name, mrefd. I didn't want to write it from scratch, but I knew of only two open-source reflector at that time. Because of its design, I chose xlxd as a starting point, an open-source transcoding reflector written by Jean-Luc, LX3JL and Luc, LX1IQ. I essentially gutted the multi-mode aspects of xlxd, as a framework for mrefd, so I just had to write the classes for the M17 protocol. I also needed an M17 client to test the reflector, so I coded mvoice basing it on another D-Star app I had written earlier.
After testing everything I could think of, on or about Oct. 17, 2020, my good friend and co-developer, Colby, W1BSB and I used mvoice to have the first M17 QSO going direct mvoice to mvoice (AZ to ME). Then we connected to the M17-USA reflector, at that time running on a server owned by Colby and had another QSO through the reflector. On that day, several bug were found and squashed.
A few days later, after fixing a few more things and filling in some details in the READMEs, I Emailed Mike about what Colby and I had done. Then Mike announce on the M17 IRC channel something like "Tom has developed a ****-load of working M17 software and ...". What happened next was amazing...
There was a lot of excitement! I think a lot of hams just wanted to hear what M17 sounded like. So, within a very short time there were mrefd reflectors running everywhere and mvoice bugs were coming in hot and heavy. Very quickly Doug, AD8DP added the M17-protocol to Droidstar. Within a year, there were over 100 M17 reflectors all over the world and Steve had a page on the M17 Project website where you could register your reflector and view the rapidly growing list of reflectors. It was amazing. There were lots of hams having QSOs with other hams all over the world, using the M17 Spec, even though precious few were doing it with RF. I think this illustrates very well how hungry hams were for a V/UHF digital voice mode that 100% belongs to them!

VK3JED concluded:

Some great early history there Tom, thanks for filling in some gaps I didn't know either. I was one of the DroidStar only early adopters myself.
As for my own involvement, COVID caused a resurgence of my interest in ham radio, as it was the perfect activity for lockdowns - one could stay home and have social interactions with others over the air. I quickly discovered a multimode system on VK3RBA and was intrigued at their integration of several modes. I had done a lot of work on IRLP/Echolink integration and EchoIRLP years earlier.
Anyway, I discovered DVSwitch [see also dvswitch.org] not long after and started experimenting with building my own multimode gateway, and while learning about DVSwitch, I saw mention of "M17" in the DVSwitch groups. I had no idea what M17 was, but a Google search quickly educated me and I was instantly hooked. Some time after, the arrival of USRP2M17 gave me cause to add M17 capabilities to my expanding multimode reflector. That system has since grown into a major multimode hub servicing several independent networks.

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Rabbit Hole Explorations - The M17 Project Wiki

And… looking up some references made in the preceding exchanges on the m17-users email list quickly became a chase down a rabbit hole of yet more implementations and documentation of M17. Despite having gotten involved and interested in M17 months ago, in all the times I have visited the M17 website, I completely neglected to notice “Wiki” at the right end of the menu bar, and there is some very good info there, including:

M17 Radio Compatibility List
Transmitting M17 with rpitx - rpitx is an amazing piece of software by F5OEO that allows you to experiment with transmitting RF using only a Raspberry Pi.
CC1200 M17 - CC1200 is a Low power and high performance wireless transceiver from Texas Instruments.

I think that the M17 Project Wiki is an underutilized resource and that should be the repository of a lot of tribal knowledge such as what’s mentioned in this article. What’s great about wikis is that the user community can maintain them with little oversight from a webmaster.

…

m17-cxx-demod

M17 Modulator & Demodulator in C++ (GPL)
m17-cxx-demod
This program reads a 48k samples per second 16-bit, little-endian, single channel, M17 4-FSK baseband stream from STDIN and writes a demodulated/decoded 8k SPS 16-bit, single channel audio stream to STDOUT.
Some diagnostic information is written to STDERR while the demodulator is running.
m17-cxx-mod
This program reads in an 8k sample per second, 16-bit, 1 channel raw audio stream from STDIN and writes out an M17 4-FSK baseband stream at 48k SPS, 16-bit, 1 channel to STDOUT.

This is yet another discovery of an independent implementation of M17 enabled by the high quality of the M17 specification:

Thanks to the M17 team to for the great work on the spec.

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Finding (and Registering) M17 Repeaters

M17 Project on Mastodon:

You can now register M17 repeaters at the Repeater World website - an open-source, open-data repeater directory!

https://repeater.world

To see all of the M17 repeaters worldwide, click the More Modes button, click M17, and click Search. (There’s a lot!)

On RepeaterBook (which is not not open source3), you can also view all M17 repeaters - put your cursor onto SPECIAL MODES on the menu bar and click on M17. You can also Add a Repeater on RepeaterBook; note that there is a checkbox for M17. Kudos that RepeaterBook has apparently had the M17 option since 2023.

I note that the Western Washington Amateur Relay Association (WWARA), the repeater coordination organization in my region, doesn’t yet recognize M17 in their Technical Data Sheet application for coordination. I emailed them to suggest adding it.

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Every Friday is M17 Activity Day

M17 Activity Day - get on the air/net with M17!
An all-day event on Fridays where people are encouraged to get on the air or get on the network using the M17 digital voice mode.
Link your hotspots and repeaters to the M17-M17 Reflector on Module C for greater effect!
When: Weekly, on Fridays
Where:
Internet: Reflector M17-M17 module C
On the Air:
IARU Region 1:
2 meters: 144.875 MHz
70 centimeters: 433.475 MHz
IARU Region 2 (calling):
2 meters: 146.520 MHz
70 centimeters: 446.000 MHz
IARU Region 3 (TBD)

I created an entry in NetFinder for M17 Activity Day. The entry isn’t perfect as it allows only one frequency to be stated, and a specific time (and this event runs all day, with no time zone for “all day” stated. But there’s ample fun to be had from getting on the air, or network, with M17.

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Follow-on M17 Projects - OpenHT and Remote Radio Unit

As a continuation of his development work on M17, Wojciech Kaczmarski SP5WWP has begun development of two follow-on projects that incorporate M17 - the OpenHT and the Remote Radio Unit.

OpenHT

The OpenHT is a handheld, self-contained Software Defined Transceiver for the Amateur Radio 420-450 MHz (70 cm) band and the 2.4 GHz band, including display and keyboard. I’ve previously written about the OpenHT in Zero Retries 0099 - M17 OpenHT - A Breakthrough In Ham Radio.

Most of the progress on OpenHT was in mid-2023 for its debut at Ham Radio 2023. I’m not aware of any additional progress on OpenHT reported recently.

Remote Radio Unit (RRU)

The RRU is an M17 and FM radio / repeater that is designed to be installed (remoted) near an antenna, very similar to the Icom IC-905’s radio unit. I’ve written about the RRU several times:

Zero Retries 0130 - Remote Radio Unit for M17 / FM Repeaters
Zero Retries 0141 - Continued Progress on Remote Radio Unit
Zero Retries 0145 - M17 Announces New Open-Source Hardware for Amateur Radio Enthusiasts and Enhancements to Current Offerings (see the commentary after the press release portion)
Zero Retries 0148 - M17 / SP5WWP Videos on M17 Remote Radio Unit

As I understand it, both OpenHT are projects in development, but lack sufficient funding to take them forward and complete them enough to be products (which would then require a group or company to commercialize them for turnkey sale, or at least launch a crowdfunded project to manufacture batches of them).

From my perspective, I consider the RRU to be a very promising concept and project and (again, seems to me) that RRU could be taken forward into being a popular product, especially in the US where there is ample spectrum in the Amateur Radio 420-450 MHz to make use of such a system.

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A Demonstration of the Flexibility of M17 - Running on a GameBoy Advance

Wojciech Kaczmarski SP5WWP on LinkedIn:

Can you run an M17 packet encoder on a GameBoy Advance with a custom-made ROM? Of course! The trick is to use fixed point arithmetic instead of floats in the square-root raised cosine baseband filter :-) The point of this proof of concept is to show how versatile and portable libm17 (and the M17 protocol itself) is.
Here's the GitHub repository for my open-source "game" generating M17 baseband:
https://github.com/sp5wwp/gba_m17
The generated signal is available at the headphones port and can be used with an amateur radio transceiver for sending text messages.

Followup email from SP5WWP:

I managed to run libm17 on my Gameboy Advance, generate baseband for a packet and decode it on my PC under Linux with the `m17-packet-decode`. How cool is that?
The point of this is not to make people use GBA for M17, it's to show how versatile libm17 is (and how cool the protocol is!). I'm aware the repeatability of this is low, but it's interesting and educational.

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More Concluding Conclusions on M17

The more I have studied M17 in order to write about it in Zero Retries, the more impressed I am with the energy and enthusiasm being applied by the M17 community that has been devoted to making M17 a viable option for Amateur Radio use on VHF / UHF bands. I’m not surprised with this level of enthusiasm and participation as there have been other projects such as Multi Mode Digital Voice Network (MMDVM) that have very broad (and occasionally niche-y) development. But all of that… energy… isn’t readily apparent about M17 as there isn’t a single place to see all of the various facets of M17.

The Wikipedia M17 article isn’t comprehensive, the M17 website isn’t comprehensive, and certainly the history of articles about M17 in Zero Retries isn’t comprehensive. Not to mention, M17 continues to evolve; it’s not stable - and in my opinion, that’s a feature in this era of Radios Are Computers - With Antennas! No one expects a computer to remain static - its software, and often its firmware, is constantly being updated. Radios in the 21st century, being largely computers, shouldn’t be considered differently.

Sometimes… a subject as complex and diverse of subject such as M17 really cries out to be captured in a book - which can contain all of the disparate aspects . I’m working on such a book, with help from SP5WWP. These articles about M17 in Zero Retries are precursors to chapters in that book. I’ll keep you apprised about its progress.

Starlink Mini - Game, Set, Match for Emergency Communications

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

I intend no disrespect to all the varied Emergency Communications activities that are performed within Amateur Radio, or those that perform them. The emergence of Starlink as a Broadband Internet Access system with few dependencies other than power has changed the paradigm of emergency communications. But now, but the emergence of the new Starlink Mini has profoundly changed the paradigm of emergency communications.

The photo above tells the story at a glance about how well-suited Starlink Mini 4 is for providing emergency communications when normal communications such as cellular or consumer Internet access are unavailable. Starlink Mini is light enough and compact enough to be carried on one’s back (or in a backpack). It can be powered by any USB-C power source, including compact USB-C battery packs (for at least a few hours) or an AC to USB-C power adapter. Wi-Fi and Ethernet are built-in on the unit. It’s managed by a smartphone app. To set it up, open the app, follow the instructions for orienting it optimally (though it will likely work acceptably by laying flat if there is enough clear sky). Within a few minutes at most you are connected to the Internet at broadband speeds. It can easily be remoted to a rooftop using a simple and inexpensive power extension cord and an Ethernet cable. It will work nearly… anywhere!

The reason I bring this up is that a Zero Retries reader contacted me about an article about a “Go Box” to set up Winlink and noted “things have changed now that Starlink Mini is available”.

Disclaimer - Yes, Starlink is a subscription service, and you have to buy Starlink Mini for a few hundred dollars and keep a service plan active for one’s Starlink Mini to be ready to use at a moment’s notice. To use one’s Starlink unit for emergency communications will likely mean exceeding the “inexpensive” service tier’s maximum data transfer limit of 50 GB. Acknowledged that those are real issues now, but Starlink has exhibited considerable flexibility in adjusting its services in response to changing business conditions. It’s my (optimistic) guess is that in a declared emergency, if one asks, Starlink can temporarily waive data transfer limits or cost penalties for “excessive usage”.

Winlink, Briefly

The goal of using Winlink, of course, is to be able to send Internet email over Amateur Radio spectrum, both HF and VHF / UHF. Using Winlink used to be a bit fraught with peril because of the relatively poor data modes Amateur Radio has traditionally used for Winlink. Formerly the only good option had been the pricey and proprietary Pactor 4 modem for HF. Now there are other options for Winlink, especially VARA - FM for VHF / UHF and VARA HF for HF. The cost of a VARA license and audio adapter to use VARA FM and VARA HF are a fraction of the price of a PACTOR 4 modem, and work comparably on HF, and work great on VHF / UHF (up to 25 kbps).

Starlink Mini / Winlink Go Kit Comparison

But consider the bigger picture here in “Winlink versus Starlink Mini” as a “Go Kit” solution (in approximately the same form factor):

Winlink is “narrowband” email, with some capability for attached files.
Starlink Mini is a broadband Internet system, and thus can handle any Internet activity - video cameras, video conferences, viewing streamed video, file transfers, email, Voice Over IP telephones… and can do all of that for multiple client devices such as multiple laptops connected via Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
A Winlink Go Kit is a complex assemblage of radio(s), modems, computers, software, antennas, power supplies, and integration.
A Starlink Mini is simple by comparison - power from a USB-C source, and connect to it via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, use normal Internet systems such as web browser.
A Winlink Go Kit can only be used by an Amateur Radio Operator who is trained / practiced in using the combination of the radio, the modem, the computer, and the software, and all of the procedures on how transmit and receive via Winlink.
A Starlink Mini can be used by anyone; it’s effectively “unlicensed” wireless Internet. The app is easy to understand, and once it acquires the satellite constellation, it just works when you connect to it with Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The app provides status, devices connected, some management, and diagnostics including a speed test for troubleshooting and it can tell you if there’s an issue with the satellites, or obstruction.
Winlink requires some infrastructure, especially when using VHF / UHF Radio Mail Servers (RMS).
A Starlink Mini requires comparatively little infrastructure now (a regional Starlink Ground Station) and in the future will require practically no infrastructure through the use of inter-satellite links.

Analogy - Autopatch

I think there’s a useful analogy in Amateur Radio’s very active use, and then complete disuse, of “Autopatch” on VHF / UHF repeaters. As a new Amateur Radio Operator in the mid-1980s, one of the most popular uses of repeaters was autopatch - “automatic phone connection”. If you wanted to make a phone call from your portable or mobile VHF / UHF radio, you could easily and quickly command the repeater to connect a phone line, dial a call with touch tones from your radio, have your conversation, and then disconnect the phone line. Autopatch was an incredibly popular feature of repeaters… but no one uses autopatch any more. There’s no technical reason not to continue using autopatch; it would work as well in the mid 2020s as it did in the mid-1980s, and there’s only a minor cost issue in having a telephone line connected to a repeater for a monthly fee.

The reason that no one uses autopatch any more is because using one’s own mobile phone is so superior to using autopatch that it’s no longer even a question about using autopatch. Why would you even want to consider using autopatch?

I think that’s the situation we’re now in with Winlink, albeit at the very beginning of the situation where Starlink (Mini) is such a superior solution to the issue of emergency communications. But I believe that the conclusion will eventually be the same as with autopatch; no one will consider using Winlink because using Starlink (and other similar systems now in development5) will be a far superior solution for emergency communications.

On Beyond Starlink - Mobile Phone Direct to Satellite

Not to mention… by the end of this decade, we may not even need Starlink to use at least basic satellite connectivity from our mobile phones in an emergency, thanks to:

Apple Satellite Messaging in its newest generations of iPhones (uses Globalstar),
SpaceX and T-Mobile providing satellite communications using normal mobile phones,
AST Space Mobile will also provide satellite communications using normal mobile phones.

It’s amazing to me that Iridium, the one “phone works everywhere on the planet via satellite” service provider, has fallen out of the conversation versus the above developments getting lots of attention.

It’s a brave, interesting, much more communications-rich new world!

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

FCC Public Notice - Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology Seek Comment on NextNav Petition For Rulemaking

NextNav Inc. (NextNav) filed a petition for rulemaking requesting that the Commission initiate a proceeding to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band (Lower 900 MHz Band) and adopt new rules to enable the deployment of a 5G terrestrial positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) network that “complements and backs up” the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). By this Public Notice, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) and the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) jointly seek comment on NextNav’s Petition.
…
Amateur radio operations are allocated on a secondary basis to LMS. Part 15 unlicensed devices also operate in the band, are not typically afforded interference protection, and may not cause harmful interference to LMS licensees, amateur operations, or other licensed systems. However, Commission rules intended to ensure coexistence between services require M-LMS licensees to demonstrate through field tests that their systems do not cause unacceptable levels of interference to part 15 devices.

This goes on for 8 pages of dense, tortured, legalistic, pseudo-technical explanations from NextNav of how this system is desperately needed and is the solution for “3D positioning accuracy”.

This is NextNav’s second attempt at getting the FCC to reconfigure 902-928 MHz to accommodate their technology. Their previous attempt was dismissed by the FCC in 2014:

By this Order, we terminate the above-captioned Multilateration Location and Monitoring Service (M-LMS) rulemaking proceeding, and conclude that the various proposals for broad revisions of the applicable rules do not merit further consideration at this time.

It’s particularly galling that “LMS” licenses were auctioned in 2005, but the buyers of those licenses simply could not make their technology work to actually deploy a working system in accordance with their licenses and the unique situation and user hierarchies inherent in 902-928 MHz when they bought those licenses!

Originally this system was posited as the solution to more precise automatic location during E911 calls. GPS receivers built into mobile phones, and other measures such as triangulation from cell towers has proven to be an adequate solution for that issue. Thus, NextNav has pivoted its technology’s purpose to “backing up GPS”. The history of Location and Monitoring Service (LMS) in 902-928 MHz has gone on for nearly two decades now trying to exploit an LMS license in this band for monetary gain (likely hoping for a buyout of their license) or a favorable “spectrum swap”. In those nearly two decades, 902-928 MHz has become used for millions of devices (I’d argue hundreds of millions of devices) such as Automatic (radio) Meter Reading (AMR). Usage of unlicensed devices in 902-928 MHz has literally exploded beyond any possible accounting by FCC or anyone else, and is poised to increase even more with inexpensive and capable 802.11ah / Wi-Fi HaLow devices that have recently emerged as a solution for wider range personal wireless networks that can extend up to several miles, including through trees.

My previous house in Woodinville, Washington had three such devices operating in 902-928 MHz - one on the water meter, one on the electric power meter, and another on the natural gas meter, all using a common radio network.

But, however… nonsensical and blatantly self-serving in trying to posit a “crisis” as this Petition for Rulemaking is, it is a formal proceeding underway by the FCC. If granted, it definitely will affect Amateur Radio’s use of 902-928 MHz, such as the new capabilities we could soon be using with 802.11ah / Wi-Fi HaLow devices.

Comments Due: September 5, 2024
Reply Comments Due: September 20, 2024

Sigh… great… more pro forma, legalistic writing of a formal comment to the FCC, with a tight deadline.

My thanks to Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Orv Beach W6BI for mentioning this document to me.

Stealth Mode New Hire at ARDC - Adam Lewis KC7GDY is New IT & Development Manager

ARDC hasn’t announced this yet (as I compose this issue), but it’s confirmed on the ARDC Who We Are page and a brief mention on KC7GDY’s LinkedIn page:

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as IT & DevOps Manager at Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)!

KC7GDY has been an energetic and talented volunteer on the ARDC Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), especially on the still-in-beta-testing ARDC 44Net VPN project. From that exposure, he’s had to become familiar with the unique challenges of ARDC’s IT infrastructure, and thus… he was warned about what he was getting himself into 😀

Congrats and Kudos, Adam! Well deserved!

(And, if you’re reading this Adam, apologies for being a laggard on the beta 44Net VPN participation. I will get my beta VPN up and running soon!)

A Sneak Peek at the Forthcoming Halibut Electronics Egg Beater Antenna

An Egg Beater antenna is an ideal antenna for receiving from (and transmitting to) satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Think of it as an omnidirectional antenna whose pattern is directed towards the sky instead of to / from the horizon.

The problem with Egg Beaters is that they’re “fussy” - necessary to achieve the required phasing of the two elements necessary to achieve the “overhead omnidirectional” pattern. Thus professionally built antennas have been the preferred type of Egg Beater antennas… until now.

Mark Smith (Smitty) N6MTS of Halibut Electronics seems have cracked the code for building your own Egg Beater antenna by providing a semi-kit of “the fussy bits”. N6MTS does the tough phasing work providing a pair of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and a choke / coaxial cable assembly. Those components are derived from a lot of testing and measuring to develop the PCBs that really work. Considerable assembly and your own parts are required. The instructions are detailed, including several cautions of what not to do during the assembly process.

N6MTS asked for feedback on the Halibut Electronics email list for his preliminary assembly manual for the EggNOGS antenna kit (he explains the name in the document). Think of it as a preview for the EggNOGS prior to it being generally available for purchase.

This is a cool kit and an EggNOGS looks like a decent antenna to get started with downloading telemetry from Amateur LEO satellites until you’re ready to invest in a full azimuth / elevation tracking directional antenna system.

Separately, N6MTS also provided a brief video “unboxing” of the EggNOGS kit.

Video - Preview of a New User Interface for AREDN

AREDN Ambassador (and Zero Retries Pseudostaffer) Orv Beach W6BI on several AREDN-related email lists:

Coming to an AREDN nightly build near you soon - a shiny new UI :-)
This YouTube overview by Tim KN6PLV explains why the AREDN devs decided a new UI was needed for the AREDN software. Tim goes into the reasons why, then does a deep dive into every corner the new UI. Folks who have seen it like it a lot. Check it out!

AREDN is Amateur Radio Emergency Digital Network and is a firmware load to convert Wi-Fi and Wireless Internet Service Provider units into Amateur Radio microwave networking mesh network units. I agree that the new user interface is a significant improvement and with it you’re more easily able to understand what is going on with your station and the network(s) you’re connected to.

The QubeDX - a modular CubeSat style QRP Transceiver

Michael Clemens DK1MI on his blog:

Image courtesy of Michael Clemens DK1MI
This article is about the implementation of the idea of building a (decorative) [HF] QRP radio for digi mode operation that can be operated remotely via Wi-Fi. One possible use would be to place the device together with a simple vertical antenna and a small battery, e.g. temporarily in the garden, so that it can then be operated from the computer from inside the house. The basic idea is to be able to conveniently control the device remotely via VNC.

I just stumbled onto this neat project in my casual browsing. Being Zero Retries Interesting, I had to mention it here. In some respects it’s the HF equivalent of a DigiPi and G1LRO’s Universal Radio Controller (though those units do not include a radio as this unit does). The CubeDX also maps nicely into an Amateur Radio Data Appliance that I imagined in Zero Retries 0136.

Kudos DK1MI - neat idea!

New Raspberry Pi Pico 2 Microcontroller

Eben Upton of Raspberry Pi:

We’re happy to announce the launch of Raspberry Pi Pico 2, our second-generation microcontroller board, built on RP2350: a new high-performance, secure microcontroller designed here at Raspberry Pi.
With a higher core clock speed, twice the memory, more powerful Arm cores, new security features, and upgraded interfacing capabilities, Pico 2 delivers a significant performance and feature uplift, while retaining hardware and software compatibility with earlier members of the Pico series.

There’s a lot to unpack in this announcement but it’s impressive that Raspberry Pi improved the performance and capabilities (more I/O), with perfect backwards compatibility (it’s a drop in replacement), with a trivial price increase from $4.00 to $5.00. Note that the core of the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 is Raspberry Pi’s unique, custom developed silicon - the new RP2350.

What’s curious is that Upton’s article doesn’t mention what, to me, is a significant feature (though not immediately usable) - two of the four cores are the RISC-V architecture which is an open source specification for a processor core. It’s feasible that Raspberry Pi can build future versions of the Pico using only RISC-V cores (the RP2350 has two ARM cores) at reduced cost because no license fee would be owed to ARM Holdings for using their processor designs.

Jeff Geerling (KF0MYB) goes into detail about the RISC-V aspects in his video introduction to the Raspberry Pi Pico 2.

To me, the strongest factor in recommending the Raspberry Pi Pico as one’s preferred microcontroller is the incredibly strong support infrastructure that Raspberry Pi has developed for it in the few years the Pico has been available… and especially that it can be programmed in a reasonable-to-understand high level language - Micro Python.

IPNode-new - A QPSK IP Radio Network Node

Steve Sampson in Zero Retries 0163 Comments:

I started on a 1200 Baud QPSK AM modem, but being an old man, I fade out pretty fast these days. While I appreciate FM, it seems a missed opportunity not to do QPSK at 3 kHz bandwidth, on 10 meters and Up. Heck, maybe even 20 meters, ha. I had to learn about Timing Error Detection which wore me out. The theory being that no power wasted in a carrier is a good thing.

From the Github page:

A QPSK IP Radio Network Node

Based on highly modified Dire Wolf repository, to create a Linux based QPSK Packet Radio Node. This design uses 1200 baud, giving 2400 bit/s (2-bits per Baud) throughput, in 1.6 kHz of bandwidth. This can also be used on VHF and above if you have an SSB rig.
It uses an I/Q sampling rate of 9600 bit/s. A Root-Raised-Cosine (RRC) matched filter is used on transmit and receive, and a slightly modified Improved Layer 2 Protocol (IL2P) encodes the data onto modified AX.25 protocol packets. A Gardner Timing Error Detection (TED). and a Costas Loop are used on receive.
These are meant to be point-point links, and digipeaters were designed out. Digipeaters are deprecated in this network design.

Technological innovation in Amateur Radio… because we’re curious and we have the ability and the spectrum to try new things in radio technology! Kudos to Sampson for this!

TAPR PSR Newsletter #158 - Summer 2024

In this issue:

Call for Nominations [3 Board of Directors positions]
Wanted: New Treasurer
New Product: ezDV 04
New Product: RX888 Clock Kit & Thermal Pad 05
New Product: HF Receiver Isolation Transformer
VE4KLM Report

PSR is always a good read to find out what’s happening within TAPR.

Video - Bringing [Amateur] Radio into the 21st Century

Jason Oleham KM4ACK on his KM4ACK YouTube channel:

This video is significant because of the brief discussion and demonstration of arcOS Linux:

What is arcOS?
The Amateur Radio Community Operating System is a bootable Linux system on a USB drive. arcOS is founded on the belief that digital communications within communities of operators can be accessible and easy to use for ALL, regardless of license class or experience.
Simple.
arcOS focuses on standardized digital communication modes commonly used for both casual and emergency communications. By minimizing the number of included applications and complexity, arcOS strives to avoid overwhelming new or inexperienced users, while offering ambitious users the ability to configure additional features and functionality.
Portable.
arcOS runs on almost any modern-ish x86_64 computer. This means the arcOS USB can be used just about anywhere. By using modular scripts, users can configure arcOS to be deployed for many different roles. Communities of operators can collaborate to build modules suited for their needs. Operators can even share these modules over the air to help others in real time.
Reliable.
After booting from the USB, arcOS "just works!" Basic digital communications are ready to go, right now. With arcOS, users are not responsible for maintaining an installed Linux system. Feel free to explore and experiment, knowing that any mistakes are easily undone by rebooting.

It’s also notable that there was a demonstration of fldigi’s flamp utility that “broadcasts” files in blocks. In this demo, there were only two users, but there could be many “receivers” of a flamp file broadcast, which is why flamp is such a powerful capability.

Video - The Beginners Guide To The Radioberry HF SDR Transceiver Pi Hat

Great overview by Matt Miller M0DQW on his Tech Minds YouTube channel of the Radioberry HF Software Defined Transceiver that’s a HAT for a Raspberry Pi.

We’re never going to run out of Zero Retries Interesting units at this pace.

Food for Thought - KE9V - Rapidly Shifting Sand

Zero Retries Pseudostaffer and Amateur Radio thought leader Jeff Davis KE9V on his ke9v.net blog:

Problems Well sure, this all has the potential to create more problems:
The secret identifying codes wouldn't necessarily be legal on the ham bands. This might require the software to check-in online every now and then to receive an authorization token.
Many elements of this concept probably require closed-source software to prevent unauthorized modification.
Who gets to be trusted authorities?
Who decides when the kill switch gets pulled?
Etc.
This isn’t at all ideal. But consider D-STAR, DMR, Fusion, and the like. “Someone” gets to be in charge of those and you must ask permission to get your identifying “key” to use those digital modes. In the same way, “someone” would be in charge of issuing DXpedition and DX chasers “keys” to make it all work.

Minor correction to the above - the “identifying key” is only necessary to use repeaters and networks; traditional simplex operation with any digital voice system is unrestricted.

I’ve actually observed a (what appeared to be purely putative) “lockout” of a particular user on a digital voice repeater network in Western Washington. While that was completely within the Amateur Radio regulations for a repeater / network administrator to decline to “repeat” a particular Amateur Radio Operator’s transmissions… it just wasn’t cool, especially considering that the “dispute” was conducted entirely outside of Amateur Radio (on an email list).

Thus KE9V’s concerns are not alarmist.

Help Me Make a [Zero Retries Interesting] Ham Zine

Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Dan Romanchik KB6NU on his KB6NU blog:

Last night, on Mastodon, I came across a post that just made me say, “Wow!” It contained a link to a post by Susan Kaye Quinn, who is a speculative fiction author with a PhD in environmental engineering, who writes hopepunk climate fiction & solarpunk. The post on Quinn’s website includes the following video on how to make an eight-page “zine” from a single sheet of paper.
Folding Solarpunk Zine (How to Write Solarpunk)
I love this idea so much that I now want to make my own ham radio zines. The first could be something like, “Cool Things that Hams Do.”

This is such a cool idea! I had hoped to fully develop my ideas for a Zero Retries Interesting zine, but didn’t get very far and didn’t want to punt this cool idea yet again into a future issue. Note that one of the key attributes of a zine is interesting graphics, which isn’t my strong suit (as a creator of text). So here’s some ideas I have, to date, for the eight pages of a future Zero Retries Interesting zine:

Front: Intro to Zero Retries
Ham radio6 is the original open source collaborative electronics activity - we share the fun of what we build.
Ham radio can do data networks via radio without any dependence on the Internet, cellular, or satellite
Ham radio can do regional, national, and international communications via radio!
Open source radio hacking is more fun on ham radio - we can transmit!
Ham radio does space - satellites, Earth Moon Earth, and ham radio on the International Space Station!
Ham radio builds its own independent microwave data networks
Back: Pointer for Ham Radio for Dummies book, Amateur Radio Technician question pool, how to find a testing site, and subscription info to Zero Retries

It also occurs to me that it would be really cool to create a zine for M17 for distribution at (non Amateur Radio) technical conferences.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

If you’re not yet licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator, and would like to join the fun by literally having a license to experiment with radio technology, check out
Join the Fun on Amateur Radio for some pointers.

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

In its mission to highlight technological innovation in Amateur Radio, promote Amateur Radio to techies as a literal license to experiment with radio technology, and make Amateur Radio more relevant to society in the 2020s and beyond, Zero Retries is published via email and web, and is available to everyone at no cost. Zero Retries is proud not to participate in the Amateur Radio Publishing Industrial Complex, which hides Amateur Radio content behind paywalls.

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT (Renewed 2024)
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Founding Member 0004 - William Arcand W1WRA
Founding Member 0005 - Ben Kuhn KU0HN
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Want to Support Zero Retries?

The most effective way to support Zero Retries is to simply mention Zero Retries to your co-conspirators that are also interested in knowing more about technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio and encourage them to become a fellow subscriber.
One particularly effective method of promoting Zero Retries is to add a mention of Zero Retries to your QRZ page (or other web presence) and include a link:
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If you’d like to financially support Zero Retries, becoming a paid subscriber is greatly appreciated and helps offset expenses incurred in publishing Zero Retries. Paid subscriptions for Zero Retries are entirely optional, as explained in this special issue of ZR:
Zero Retries Administrivia - Activating Payment Options.

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories that often feature “Zero Retires Interesting” topics.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Ham Radio Workbench by George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU (and friends)
Foundations of Amateur Radio by Onno Benschop VK6FLAB

Zero Retries is currently using the Substack email publishing platform to publish Zero Retries. It’s particularly suitable for small newsletters as you can get started for no cost.

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More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

Thanks for reading!
Steve Stroh N8GNJ / WRPS598 (He / Him / His)
These bits were handcrafted (by a mere human, not an Artificial Intelligence bot) in beautiful Bellingham (The City of Subdued Excitement), Washington, USA, and linked to the Internet via Starlink Satellite Internet Access.

2024-08-09

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

Blanket permission is granted for Amateur Radio use of any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for Amateur Radio newsletters and distribution via Amateur Radio such as (but not limited to) Packet Radio Networks, Packet Radio Bulletin Board Systems, Repeater Nets, etc.

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to republish an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

All excerpts from other authors or organizations, including images, are intended to be fair use. Unless otherwise noted in the article, there are no paid promotional items in any Zero Retries articles.

Footnotes for this Issue

Per several members of the USS Sampson crew during my tour of the ship, the “Nathan James” was quite fictionalized. They didn’t go into details.

My Dad was fond of telling the story of how I did try spending a portion of my paychecks while working at sea - on dozens of magazine subscriptions at one point (Byte, Popular Electronics, Radio Electronics, Home Power, Ad Astra, QST, etc.), all of which were duly delivered to me in bulk during port calls in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Bering Sea. That, and $10/minute INMARSAT telephone calls charged to Dad’s telephone credit card when I became engaged to my now wonderful wife of nearly 40 years, Tina KD7WSF.

Per the tagline on RepeaterBook:
Copyright © 2006-2024 RepeaterBook.com. All Rights Reserved.
Created and owned by KD6KPC/WREQ745 since 2006.
All data, including non-copyrightable data, is protected from theft under Oregon law (ORS 164.377).

For those that will want to raise the issue of “dependence” on SpaceX and Starlink as an “Elon Musk company” and how they would never consider depending on such a system… just don’t go there. This discussion is not going to descend into political or narcissistic personality issues, including comments. Provably, Starlink works.

Starlink will eventually have some competition. Amazon’s Project Kuiper is well, known, but this week China launched the first satellites of its Qianfan system. Europe’s HydRON system is still in the design phase. Eutelsat OneWeb is already in operation, but seems to have been largely eclipsed by the amazing success of Starlink.

I normally state “Amateur Radio” not Ham Radio, but a zine is intended to casually familiarize someone on an unfamiliar subject, so in this case, I think using “Ham Radio” is more appropriate. And please, no comments on my preferred capitalization.

Zero Retries 0163

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

3 August 2024 at 01:01

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Request To Send
New 3600 bps Packet Radio Mode for Radios Without Flat Audio
Nino Carrillo KK4HEJ
Why M17 Is Significant - Part 1
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
ZR > BEACON
Join the Fun on Amateur Radio
Closing The Channel
Footnotes for this Issue

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0163

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Doug Leber KF0PCW for upgrading from a Monthly subscriber to Zero Retries to an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week! In an email exchange, KF0PCW said:

I’m a new ham but a longtime tutor teaching reading to dyslexic youngsters and teens. So many of my students are makers and tinkerers and hackers. I’m thrilled to learn more about how to expose them to this amazing hobby that can bring them joy and powerful skills.

I’m including KF0PCW’s note here in hopes that other Zero Retries readers that are involved in similar activities (or might want to be) might wish to exchange ideas with him - see his QRZ page for contact info.

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 41 for being a New Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 42 for being a New Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 3 weeks!
Pacificon 2024 in San Ramon, California, USA on 2024-10-18 thru 20 in 11 weeks. Tina KD7WSF and I plan to attend Pacificon 2024 (which makes it “major” to us). I have offered to do a presentation about Technological Innovation in Amateur Radio, and (I think) my proposal has been accepted.

See the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Events for additional events.

Late Publication Today

Apologies for late publication of this issue of Zero Retries, especially to those that like to read it as soon as it hits their inbox or RSS feed reader. One Zero Retries reader on the US East Coast told me that their early Friday evening routine has become to grab a beer and their tablet computer and settle into their favorite comfy chair to read Zero Retries. My apologies to that reader for a late “beer thirty” today.

I had completed a major article for this issue, but in the last few hours before auto-publication, I decided that article deserved more thought and time to carefully consider. Thus I brought forward the M17 article that I had planned for next week’s issue into this week’s issue and that needed some significant editing.

Store and Forward Podcast - Episode 3

Episode 3 of the Store and Forward (S&F) podcast, featuring Kay Savetz K6KJN and myself, has now dropped. Our cadence for new shows is “approximately twice per month”, especially for the remaining few months of nice weather here in the Pacific Northwet. K6KJN lives in the Portland, Oregon area and I live in the Vancouver, British Columbia area. We are both “of a certain age” and have lived in the region long enough to be intimately familiar with how fleeting this wonderful summer weather is… so we won’t let the labor of love that is S&F dictate our summer.

The link goes to our brand new Store and Forward website - www.storeandforwardradio.org - a podcast about the past and future of ham radio. S&F is all thanks to K6KJN who is the brains, website builder, podcast producer, and uses their editing mad skilz for S&F. One gripe I have about other podcasts is poor or no show notes, so we both try to insure there are reasonable show notes for each episode. And for those that watch the video, I will be doing a better job of my video by the next episode - K6KJN has their video well dialed-in.

This episode is mostly K6KJN describing an epic fingers-bleeding week in Denver sorting through the Bob Cooper archives which have been donated to Internet Archive and Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (DLARC). For those that understand the reference (in the context of Internet Archive), K6KJN was an “Away Team of One”… and bless them for doing that. Some of the “Coop” material has already made it into public access in DLARC.

Richard “Reverend Rick” Olsen N6NR is a Silent Keyboard

I’m sad to learn that Rick Olsen N6NR, also known as “Chaplain Rick”, is now a silent keyboard. I didn’t know N6NR well; my personal memory of N6NR was that he was wicked smart with deep technical background… but when it came to Amateur Radio, he happily shared his knowledge with those of us that weren’t as deeply knowledgeable about radio technology.

N6NR was Director of Engineering of US West NewVector (which became US West Cellular… or vice versa - I’ll just abbreviate it to USWC). In that position, he was the de facto ringleader of a small, merry band of Amateur Radio Operators within USWC and that gave the merry band “cover” for putting up three UHF 9600 bit regenerative repeaters on USWC towers in the Seattle metro area. Those repeaters became the core of the Puget Sound Amateur Radio TCP/IP Network. Some of the more interesting bits about these repeaters were that these towers were owned by USWC. Thus USWC Engineering department had carte blanche for “experimental systems” on those towers. Not to mention that as cellular quickly gained popularity, these towers had all of their cellular equipment moved down much lower on the tower to accommodate more aggressive frequency reuse, thus the upper half of the towers became largely unused. Those three towers originally covered all of the Seattle metro area (this was the very early days of cellular where the average cellular unit was at least 1 watt on 800 MHz).

The antennas originally used for the repeaters turned out to be designed with “uptilt” radiation patterns (for typical Amateur Radio Operators)… which wasn’t optimum at the top of a 300 foot tower… on hilltops. So the merry band decided to invert them and that worked great until they suffered water infiltration; despite reasonable waterproofing precautions, they weren’t designed to be used upside down. They went through a few antennas before they got that issue sorted out.

Another fun bit of detail was that the repeaters were repurposed Motorola Pulsar radios which were used for the original (pre-cellular) mobile telephone system on UHF. They were designed for full duplex and long duty cycles, living in a car trunk, at high power for good voice quality. Thus they were rugged. The “merry band” had no problems bypassing the need for a head unit, dialing down the power for tower service, putting them on Amateur Radio UHF repeater frequencies, and pulling out flat audio signals for the TNCs with the TAPR 9600 bps board with a bit regeneration adapter.

To provide a backhaul link to the three repeaters without needing yet another Amateur Radio radio on the tower (there were also 2 meter 1200 bps simplex radios as part of each repeater), the “merry band” connected the repeater’s computer (running KA9Q NOS) to a telemetry connection at (if memory serves) 19.2 kbps, thus it was possible to have very wide area data transfers from by accessing one of the repeaters and connecting seamlessly to a user on one of the other repeaters.

This was all fantastic fun for several years, but inevitably USWC was consolidated into bigger and bigger entities, and the towers were sold to a site owner that didn’t want Amateur Radio Operators on their towers (without paying full rent). N6NR and the merry band’s very valuable skills as pioneers of using Qualcomm’s CDMA technology were in intense demand in the exponentially growing cellular industry.

N6NR became Reverend Rick, and went on to lead a very happy life beyond his time as USWC Director of Engineering. I (and we in the Puget Sound Amateur Radio TCP/IP Group / Network) owe N6NR and the rest of the merry band a debt of gratitude for their sponsorship of the repeaters that were the core of the network. I wasn’t the only one that leveraged my knowledge from that network and its pioneering use of TCP/IP in Amateur Radio to further my professional career.

But, mostly, N6NR made it possible to have an enormous amount of Amateur Radio bleeding edge networking technical fun, and for that I’m personally grateful to him.

73, N6NR! I wish you clear channels and Zero Retries! de N8GNJ

…

73,

Steve N8GNJ

GitHub - ninocarrillo/flashtnc: Firmware updater for N9600A TNCs

New 3600 bps Packet Radio Mode for Radios Without Flat Audio

By Nino Carrillo KK4HEJ

Editor’s Note - Achieving maximum data speeds with a conventional VHF / UHF FM radio generally require using a radio that provides a “flat audio” connection such as the “9600” or “data” connector found on the Yaesu FTM-6000R1. A flat audio connection bypasses the radio’s microphone pre-emphasis and speaker de-emphasis stages in the radio that make voice communications more intelligible. However, the pre-emphasis and de-emphasis stages distort higher speed data (audio) signals. Radios with flat audio connections are relatively rare in the mid-2020s. Until now, there were only a few data modes that were faster than 1200 bps Audio Frequency Shift Keying - AFSK that could be used with a typical radio’s microphone and speaker connections. Thus for decades now, 1200 bps AFSK has been the default Amateur Radio data communications standard because it worked with every Amateur Radio VHF / UHF FM radio. Thus this new development, to be able to do reliable communications that are faster than 1200 bps, using radios without a flat audio connection, is very welcome.

I’m pleased to welcome Nino Carrillo KK4HEJ, the primary developer of the NinoTNC, as a guest author in Zero Retries. The NinoTNC is a relatively new KISS TNC that’s available as a “through hole components” kit, or an assembled and tested version.

I've been working on a 3600 bps mode for the NinoTNC. My goal was to make a mode that worked reliably through unmodified speaker/mic connections on FM voice radios, and moved data a little faster than 1200 AFSK.

The mode uses QPSK at 1800 symbols per second, applied to a 1650 Hz carrier tone. I use matched filtering on the I and Q channels in the modulator and demodulator to shape the occupied audio bandwidth and filter noise. Using an RRC filter with rolloff-rate of 0.3 results in a baseband waveform that fits through the audio filters of normal FM voice radios. Here's an image of my simulation of 1800 symbol/sec BPSK, which has the same audio spectrum as QPSK:

You can see the audio spectrum should fit in a normal 300 Hz to 3000 Hz voice channel.

It's worth noting that QPSK on the audio carrier does not result in an RF QPSK waveform after FM modulation. Similar to AFSK over FM, which is not RF FSK.

The bottom squares on the chart show the baseband waveform after the transmit RRC filter (bottom left) and after the receive RRC filter (bottom right). You can see the effect of the scheme "cleaning up" the received "eye" pattern, or removing inter-symbol interference.

The QPSK demodulator in the NinoTNC firmware implements a Costas Loop to sync the audio carrier and provide "coherent detection".

I have this working in NinoTNC firmware v3.39 (for 256k dsPICs) and v4.39 (for 512kdsPICs). It's mapped to MODE switch position 0101, replacing the old DPSK 2400 mode. In the NinoTNC, I use IL2P+CRC as the encoding method for this mode.

I've also been working with John G8BPQ to help him make a compatible mode in his qtSoundModem program. He and I have collaborated on similar efforts in the past.

There are a couple operators in the NCPACKET network who have tested this mode out on the air, as well as a few members of the OARC in the UK. Thanks to Tadd KA2DEW and Tom M0LTE for their help and support testing the mode on-air.

NinoTNC users can download firmware images with this mode here: https://github.com/ninocarrillo/flashtnc, switch to the "v39" branch to get this version. I still consider this “beta”.

Firmware updater for N9600A TNCs. Contribute to ninocarrillo/flashtnc development by creating an account on GitHub.

https://github.com/ninocarrillo/flashtnc

For folks interested in generating their own RRC filter taps, I have a little open-source python utility:

https://github.com/ninocarrillo/rrc-gen

For folks interested in understanding any of the demodulation methods I use in the NinoTNC, they might check out my open-source pymodem software. It's an offline packet decoder that mimics some of the techniques I use in firmware. It can demodulate recordings of the 3600 bps mode, as well as other modes:

https://github.com/ninocarrillo/pymodem

The QPSK phase map I use for the 3600 mode is the same as the other modes in the NinoTNC, and can be found in the IL2P specification document:

https://tarpn.net/t/il2p/il2p-specification_draft_v0-6.pdf

Editor’s Footnote - KK4HEJ “buries the lede” a bit in not mentioning that all of the modes available on a NinoTNC can optionally use a new Forward Error Correction (FEC) protocol that he developed called Improved Layer 2 Protocol (IL2P). Use of FEC makes packet radio communications even more robust. Prior to IL2P, the only FEC available for Amateur Radio packet radio was FX.25 which “appends” an FEC packet to an AX.25 packet, thus not efficient or optimum, but it was FEC, and was compatible with AX.25. In contrast, IL2P is interleaved with the data packet making it (in my opinion) more robust and better optimized than FX.25. When using IL2P, all stations that are communicating must also be using IL2P.

Kudos to KK4HEJ for this new mode for better data communications in Amateur Radio!

Why M17 Is Significant - Part 1

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Post publication update - I knew that there would be an eventual update to this story, but I had no idea that so much, and such good information would be sent to me as a result of this article. Thus Why M17 Is Significant - Part 2 is now available in Zero Retries 0164.

This article is mostly derived from an email that I sent that was “an absurdly long answer to a short set of questions”. A Zero Retries reader asked me (very tersely summarized), “Is the new Connect Systems CS7000 M17 really significant? And, by extension, “Is M17 actually a viable new Amateur Radio Digital Voice system for VHF / UHF?”.

An Irreverent History Lesson of Digital Voice in Two-Way Radio

Why do we have digital voice in two way radio? FM was as good as it needed to be, right? Heck, we used FM for the comm channels on the Apollo Moon missions! Because back before cellular, two-way radio was getting really popular for business. Everyone wanted their own frequency, and if they couldn’t get their own frequency, they wanted at least a less crowded frequency / trunked radio system so people could talk as necessary without waiting for others. Remember that at those times, television broadcasting was still dominant, and they were still irritated that the FCC had yanked UHF channels 70-83 away from television broadcasting and carved up that 84 MHz of spectrum 50% for public safety / commercial two-way, and 50% for the new cellular industry2. Television broadcasters said “Never again”… until the FCC came up with the novel measure of the HDTV cutover to compact broadcasting down into the lower end of television UHF.

So FCC (and as I understand it, simultaneously, ETSI) required by fiat that the two way radio industry - public safety and industry, convert their systems from 20/25 kHz channels to 12.5 kHz channels, with an evolution path to eventually move to 6.25 kHz channels. The technology of that era (three decades or so ago) couldn’t easily do those kinds of narrow channels with analog (FM) techniques, so they decided that since everyone was paying big bucks for entirely new systems, they would pay a little bit more for the “benefits” of digital voice. That made doing 12.5 kHz channels a lot easier as you could get an understandable digital voice signal into 12.5 kHz and even into 6.25 kHz. Digital voice also made it a lot easier to manage fleets of radios because every DV radio transmitted a digital ID and if someone lost a radio, that ID could be de-authorized so it couldn’t use the repeater / trunked radio system so the thief couldn’t do bad things with the stolen radio. Being digital theoretically made things possible like over the air updates (which has a checkered history, from the stories I recall).

Oh, and another feature of digital voice that was very attractive to public safety and especially US government (think security for military bases and nuclear plants) was the possibility of encryption. Doing real voice encryption in analog is hard (and pretty ineffective / easy to crack), but pretty easy when the voice is already digitized. All you need to do with a digital voice is scramble the order of the transmitted voice bits (and reassemble them).

Along the way, some company made the argument to the FCC (and apparently ETSI) that they could do the equivalent of 6.25 kHz channels by using Time Division Multiple Access (DMA) techniques to cram two independent voice channels into a 12.5 kHz channel. FCC and ETSI said “good enough” which is how we got (cheap) DMR.

But then cellular happened.

Cellular happened, at least the wild popularization of cellular in displacing two way radio and especially trunked radio partially because cellular could peanut butter their infrastructure costs across tens of thousands of users. In comparison, the average two-way radio system only had hundreds of users. Cellular was just that more efficient (and faster to change generations of technology) with their spectrum.

The (Payment) Problem With Digital Voice

Back three decades ago, in the early days of the “narrowband mandate” for two-way / trunked radio, some technical sharpies foresaw that there would need to be digital voice, and decided to get ahead of the curve and start patenting all conceivable approaches to doing digital voice over two way radio and cellular. And that approach worked. There were some fortunes made purely out of patent filings that were never implemented - they just got acquired for defensive purposes.

When TAPR first looked at trying to create a digital voice system for Amateur Radio, they did a very extensive study. Their conclusion was there was no way to implement digital voice that had not already had a patent on file. Every conceivable method. If you wanted to do digital voice over radio, you were going to have to pay royalties to someone. And the license terms were that you had to use their technology as a black box, with no understanding of how it worked internally, or tinkering with, your chosen DV technology. Just “bolt it in”, use it, don’t ask questions.

DMR with its 2 conversations in a 12.5 kHz channel is a creature of the narrowband mandate. D-Star is also a creature of the narrowband mandate, but the Japanese were more technically capable and were able to make 6.25 kHz channel radios, with a trickle of streamed data alongside the digital voice. “Everyone” accepted that using patented DV Coder Decoders (CODECs) was just the price of having a digital voice two way radio system.

Apologies in advance to K6BP and VK5DGR for this quick take on the creation of Codec 2. I’m sure that I’ve got details wrong in my telling that follows.

Fast forward a few decades from the digital voice patenting frenzy and Open Source advocate Bruce Perens K6BP decided that there ought to be an open source option for digital voice in Amateur Radio and connected with David Rowe VK5DGR to try to create an open source digital voice option.

VK5DGR did his own (new) study of the digital voice field and hit upon the novel idea of not trying to work around the “digital voice patent minefield” but rather take advantage of patented techniques whose patents had expired. He eventually developed Codec 2 which was a successful, usable digital voice CODEC that was entirely open source. Anyone could use it, anyone could hack it, improve it, etc. It’s now in widespread use, notably in Amateur Radio as the core technology of FreeDV on HF, and M17 on VHF / UHF.

The creation of Codec 2 was the breakthrough that eventually made inexpensive, hackable, digital voice possible in Amateur Radio, and digital voice that could evolve in new systems, new capabilities, etc.

Why M17?

Why M17? Especially why M17 when we have “perfectly usable” digital voice systems in DMR (and cheap!) and D-Star and System Fusion and even surplus P25 radios?

Several reasons, combined:

Because we could - see below.
Because we wanted to - see below.
Mostly, because Wojciech (Woj) Kaczmarski SP5WWP decided to try.

Because we could… We now have fantastically cheap, fantastically powerful microcontrollers. How cheap? We’re embedding processors with full TCP/IP stacks and Wi-Fi into light bulbs. Yep, we’re now in the ludicrous position that some light bulbs boot up into (a heavily distilled) Linux OS. So what used to require an expensive, embedded, proprietary chip to do digital voice could now be done with a cheap embedded microcontroller. Thus we now had the raw capability to do cheap, good, open source digital voice that was just software. The hardware caught up with Codec 2 being implemented solely in software.

Because we wanted to... It took me a long time to understand this, but there is a sizable contingent in Amateur Radio that hate, with a white hot passion, modulation techniques that are not open standards. These folks don’t think it’s moral, fair, or perhaps even legal (though no one has really pushed that argument yet) for there to be transmissions over Amateur Radio spectrum that are proprietary… can’t be hacked on… without paying someone to buy their proprietary technology. They argue that using proprietary systems on Amateur Radio goes against the spirit of openness in Amateur Radio, for experimentation, interoperability, fun, curiosity, learning, motherhood, apple pie, etc. Not just DVSI for patented digital voice chips, this white hot hatred against proprietary systems extends to Pactor 4, VARA HF and VARA FM, Robust Packet (though that’s been kind of hacked), CLOVER, and others I’m forgetting.

Apologies in advance to all of the many folks along the way that contributed to M17 becoming a usable system. I wasn’t able to find a comprehensive list of such folks to link to, and mentioning all of them is part of the story deserves to be told, probably as part of an eventual book on M17. I’m sure that I’ve got details wrong in my telling that follows.

M17 exists primarily because Wojciech Kaczmarski SP5WWP decided to try. He created M17 out of an idea. He was bright, capable, energetic, motivated, and had the requisite background to create M17 - with lots of help along the way.

First came a detailed specification. You only know that you did a good job with a spec when people read the spec and build their own independent system and it works and most importantly interoperates with the versions that other people build from the same spec. By this measure, the M17 folks did a great job on the spec.

For a long time, M17 existed as a mode on Internet linking of repeater networks via BrandMeister. Gradually radio hardware for M17 emerged like the Module 17 hardware and then modifying some radios to do M17 modulation. Mobilinkd got in on the M17 fun and included M17 data modes in their TNC3 and new TNC4. From my perspective, that was a powerful endorsement of M17 seeing it implemented in a plug and play product like the TNC 3 and 4. There was also ZUMRadio’s MMDVM hotspots and MMDVM modems which included M17.

M17 really started to get some traction towards becoming a usable two way radio system (including repeaters) when it was included as just another digital voice mode in the Multi Mode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM) project which has been implemented in dozens of different, independent hardware modems. That meant M17 was now available for use in MMDVM radio hotspots, MMDVM modems, and especially MMDVM modems that could convert FM repeaters into digital voice repeaters. Most people install MMDVM modems into repeaters to be usable by FM, and DMR, and D-Star, and SF users, but M17 is also in MMDVM now, so if MMDVM radios eventually emerged (which they existed, with Modem 17 connected to a “9600 capable” radio like Kenwood TM-V71A) and the OpenRTX modified radios, they could work through an MMDVM repeater.

Connect Systems CS 7000 M17 - The First “M17 Out of the Box” Radio

Which brings us to current day and the recent availability (past couple of weeks) of the first “off the shelf, built in from the factory” M17 radio from Connect Systems - the CS7000 M17 UHF Radio.

In these early days, some post-sale firmware updates are inevitably going to be required, but eventually all the early quirks will get worked out and it really will be usable out of the box.

Connect Systems committed to creating a new M17 radio, lined up the needed talent to develop it, committed the capital for the development costs and the initial order from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and the willingness to evangelize M17 and carry the units in stock. The CS7000 M17 UHF Radio is now a product, not a “project". Thus the credit for Connect Systems having shipped the first “out of the box M17 radio” is well-earned.

Thus we now have all the pieces in place for those that want to put an open source digital voice repeater system on the air, and “buy them and use them” radios to use such repeaters. I’ve seen claims that there are 30’ish M17 repeaters on the air worldwide, but I haven’t been able to find any additional details to refer to. In the US, the first such system I’m aware of, that explicitly supports M17 (read the fine print), is the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club’s W6CX-DV -- MultiMode Digital Voice Repeater.

Why Does All This Matter? The Big Picture?

One of the reasons to try / adopt M17 is once there’s some real momentum, it’s all open source so it can get improved, forked, hacked, extended, transmogrified, etc. No other Amateur Radio digital voice system is as well defined as M17 (that I know of), especially the sticky (patented) digital voice chip.

As I understand it, the M17 spec is written well enough that it’s now theoretically possible (perhaps even done; apologies for not doing that research) to create a “module” (not sure what you call this - sketch?) to be able to do a software download into a Software Defined Transceiver for an M17 radio. In this era of Software Defined Transceivers and wicked capable and wicked cheap microcontrollers, M17 has the ability to develop rapidly to take advantage of SDTs and new microcontrollers.

Thus, imagine writing an “M17 radio” in GNU Radio:

Specification + Software + Software Defined Transceiver = working M17 radio.

Since such a thing would be implemented on a Software Defined Transceiver, which typically can operate on all the Amateur Radio VHF / UHF bands, there no reason M17 can’t be used on other interesting bands like 10m, 6m, 2m, 1.25m as well as the default 70cm band.

Side Note re:Data on M17

The M17 folks were smart and aware enough to incorporate reasonable data capability in their spec3 - you can even connect to an M17 radio (again, according to the spec) as a KISS TNC device and it will send data, including telemetry (APRS strings), short messages, and even file data transfers. None of the other digital voice systems did this so well, at least outside their proprietary systems. You can do data between MOTOTRBO radios, between Hytera radios, kind of send data between D-Star (using their barely supported DV Fast Data mode), and you can send photos (but no data) on System Fusion.

It won’t be long before we’re just doing digital voice + data on VHF / UHF as “just one of many modes”, very much like selecting between FM and SSB on an HF / VHF / UHF radio. At the current rate of radio evolution, we’re only a few years from that. So having a system like M17 with a solid specification, refined with actual hardware interoperability testing, that’s designed for Amateur Radio, with no license or trademark or any other issues (because it’s all open source) will become the default for such radio systems.

Is M17 by itself compelling enough to displace DMR or D-Star or SF? Probably not… it depends… maybe… Which answer is appropriate depends on the locals and how much they want to have fun and experiment with something new like M17. Like everything else, if you can get someone(s) to charismatically lead such a project and make it look like you’re having fun, especially having more fun than the next group, you’ll get some folks who want to join the fun and play along.

All the rest of the digital voice systems are captive to the expectation - by their manufacturers and by their users, to the traditional hardware, traditional form factors, whatever China can mass produce and sell cheap, etc. We’re getting cheaper DMR transceivers with more bells and whistles from China, but I don’t think we’re getting better DMR transceivers from China. And we’re certainly not getting better and especially not cheaper D-Star and SF transceivers… just more expensive, and fewer choices, with maybe a few more features. So I’m guessing M17 will evolve faster than any of the other Amateur Radio digital voice systems can evolve.

The final, and best reason for M17 is that it’s a new idea that’s born within the past decade, and it’s open source, which is beloved with this generation of techies and hackers. Thus M17 is going to be one of the ways of getting the current generation of techies and hackers interested in doing Amateur Radio VHF / UHF. Soon enough they’ll be able to do it for cheap by loading it onto an SD transceiver, putting up their own micro repeaters, maybe even something radical like a mesh network of micro repeaters where the repeaters can listen to each other (you know, with a SD receiver or ka9q-radio) and if there’s a user who wants to talk to someone who’s a user of another repeater, the repeaters dynamically handshake (over the air or maybe over an Amateur microwave network) to set up a cross link for the duration of the conversation.

Repeaters the way we know them, and repeater coordination, and DV repeaters, and maybe even the IRLP and Echolink networks are products of an earlier era when radios were all hardware, modulation methods were hard coded and unchangeable, etc. We can do better now with current technology, and something I’ve observed about the current generation is that they don’t feel beholden to past ways of doing things. They’re not writing letters on paper with stamps, they’re not even writing checks, they’re not watching network TV or listening to broadcast radio, a lot of them that live in cities don’t feel compelled to own a car, and don’t feel compelled to talk on the radio.

M17 - The New Hotness

In conclusion, M17 has reached the stage that it can be considered “The New Hotness” in Amateur Radio VHF / UHF. While M17 remains very much a work in progress, especially building out wide area (or even local area) M17 infrastructure, that’s part of the attraction for the newest generation of Amateur Radio Operators that are techies and hackers. M17 is a creature of the open source movement and this new generation will get to define it and change it and adapt it to their needs.

Thus, in comparison to the “live with it because that’s the best we can do” approach of the incumbent digital voice systems which are well-deployed and well understood, aren’t nearly as exciting.

Your opinions may vary.

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

QST Reviews “Designed for Digital Modes” Radio… Without Testing Digital Modes

I generally don’t mention anything published in ARRL publications since only the small percentage of Amateur Radio Operators that are ARRL members can see ARRL content behind its paywall, but the absurdity of this review was Zero Retries Interesting.

In my usual brief pass-through of QST, I discovered this review and thought “Oh, cool, a portable HF radio that is designed to operate digital (data) modes!”:

BG2FX FX-4CR Portable Transceiver
Reviewed by Phil Salas AD5X
QST, 2024-08, pages 35-40

Overview
The FX-4CR transceiver is a compact and attractive transceiver that covers the 80 – 6-meter ham bands, along with a general-coverage receiver that tunes continuously from 3.5 to 54 MHz. The cast aluminum metal case has an excellent solid feel to it. And even though the FX-4CR can output up to 20 W of power, it literally its in the palm of your hand. A tiny microphone rounds out the unit. The FX-4CR also includes a built-in microphone for portable operation. And besides normal AM, FM SSB, and CW modes, the FX-4CR is designed for digital modes. A USB cable provides computer interfacing for digital modes as well as for firmware updates.

It was a good review, describing the experience of setting up the radio and some of its features. I read on eagerly to see how well it did for the reviewer on digital modes.

On the Air
I operated CW and SSB on 40, 20, and 17 meters, and CW on 30 meters, using my 43-foot vertical. I did not test the FX-4CR on digital modes as I am primarily a CW and SSB operator.

You really cannot make this stuff up!

Whitebox Smart Software Radio Device Project - The Rest of the Story

The Whitebox project was an ambitious attempt to create an open source Software Defined Transceiver in a handheld radio form factor around 2013-2015. The technology of that era was barely viable for attempting such a portable radio (without the resources of a multi-million dollar commercial company), and thus it was admirable to even try. Despite considerable progress as evidenced from a 2013 DCC paper, Github page, and even a Facebook page, the project just seemed to stop.

Now there’s some closure on the Whitebox project from Bruce Perens K6BP, posting on LinkedIn:

More than a decade ago, I was involved in the "Whitebox" radio project with Chris Testa KD2BMH. This was a project that would have created an Open Source and Open Hardware handheld software-defined transceiver. The prototype had a lot of digital noise and the project lost steam at that point. The M17 project has completed a number of our previous goals.
Chris subsequently fell completely off of the internet and has not been heard of for years. He did so with some thousands of dollars of my equipment in hand, but that doesn't matter as much. He worked for several companies, but the online data on him seems to have petered out.
During Hamvention, on the morning of my presentation, an anonymous person texted me from a number purportedly in Minnesota, and apologized for letting down the Open Source and Amateur Radio communities. I replied but there was no further communication.

In referring to M17, I think K6BP is referencing the OpenHT project:

The OpenHT, at least in its Proof of Concept stage, is a complete QRP SDR handheld transceiver. It's built around the STM32F469I-DISCO board. Morgan ON4MOD designed an awesome RF shield for it. Some technical details behind the design:
Duobander: 389.5 - 480, 2400 - 2483.5MHz (RX, TX frequency ranges are limited by your local laws) low RF power output: <14dBm (<25mW) complete I/Q transceiver allowing for virtually any mode (including M17 and FreeDV) the radio uses the AT86RF215 low-cost I/Q transceiver chip by Microchip/Atmel use of an FPGA (Lattice LIFCL-40) as the AT86<->STM32 interface allows to offload the MCU (FPGA does the DSP heavy lifting, all the way from RF stream to baseband) the radio will run a port of OpenRTX on it hardware is TAPR licensed Supported modes so far.

I haven’t seen any recent progress on the OpenHT, but potentially it could be realized in this decade given the capabilities available now versus the Whitebox a decade ago:

Like Whitebox, OpenHT is open source, so all the hard work can be shared.
OpenHT uses current parts.
There are a lot more, and better RF design tools available in this era. There’s also a lot more “open source” RF design expertise available from there having been so many open source radio projects, such as the TAPR TangerineSDR project, and the Universal Radio Test Instrument, to name just two.
Crowdfunding the design process is feasible via Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Crowd Supply, etc., not to mention grants are available from ARDC for open source projects.
There are competent and reasonably trustworthy, low cost, turnkey assemblers in China4.

I hope that OpenHT will actually become a product, not just a project. I think the new paradigm of building a portable radio that is only the battery system and radio, and using Bluetooth to link to a smartphone (or tablet) for the display and keyboard and audio is much more viable idea than doing all of that in one handheld device.

ARRL Executive Committee Meeting - FCC Counsel's Update on Symbol Rate Proceeding

Excerpt from the 2024-06-06 ARRL EC Meeting:

6. FCC Counsel's Update - David Siddall
Mr. Siddall provided updates on Washington matters and plans for future actions with regard to pending issues at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Pending Petitions: Multiple important petitions have been pending at the Commission for a number of years. Mr. Siddall and the EC discussed how to proceed on each of the pending ARRL petitions. Those of ARRL and others that address Part 97 changes have completed comment cycles, but none has received further action. A report will be made at the July Board meeting.
Mr. Roderick expressed his dissatisfaction with the FCC’s inaction on the ARRL petitions but also noted that the Commission’s recent favorable action on the long-pending symbol rate proceeding offers hope. Nevertheless, given the most optimistic FCC timeline for addressing our key proceedings, it could be 2026 before we see final and hopefully favorable determinations.
…
Follow-on symbol rate proceeding: Comments and reply comments have been filed with regard to the remaining amateur bands that have symbol rate restrictions. Almost all comments favor deleting the restriction. The issue is now with the FCC staff for their consideration.
…

It’s surprising that in his report, FCC Counsel Siddall only referenced the potential for symbol rates to be eliminated. In its Reply Comments on this proceeding, ARRL said:

Bandwidth Limits Should be Deleted

(Emphasis mine.) And that… is as much… as little… as we know at the moment about progress within the FCC on the symbol rate proceeding and the potential to eliminate both symbol rate and bandwidth restrictions on the US Amateur Radio VHF / UHF bands.

2026??? Sigh…

Some AREDN Network Metrics as of 7/1/2024

AREDN Ambassador and Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Orv Beach W6BI:

Some metrics from the AREDN World Map as of 7/1/24:
Total number of visible nodes: 2295 (down from 2503 last month)
Percentage of nodes updated to latest production build: 48% (up from 35% )
Percentage of nodes that are non-MIMO (mostly Bullets, AirGrids and AirRouters): .4% (down from 5.4%)
Longest uptime: 1689 days: still KA6ECT-RM3-Pleasants-36-198-231
Nodes with highest reported number of tunnels*:
K6PVR-VC-TUNNEL-SRV: 35
KI5VMF-OKLAHOMA: 29
AA3JC-AC3-HATFLD-1 - 26
KI7LXY-HAP-AC3 - 23
Who's running what?
Mikrotik: 57.5% (up from 56.7%)
Ubiquiti: 33.2% (down from 33.7%)
TP-link: 1.6% (down from 2%)
Gl.inet: 5.1% (down from 5.4%
VMs (Virtual Machines): .35% (8) up from .3% (7)

ka9q-radio Resources Page

Resources for ka9q-radio, such as where to get, how to install, how to configure and how it works.

What is ka9q-radio
ka9q-radio (Yes, by custom of the author, it is lowercase) is a attempt to move the data processing from dedicated hardware, move it into software on a CPU. The current radio is receive only. It uses a variety of USB receivers.
ka9q-radio is a very flexible system which require a time and effort to become competent in it use.
This document is designed to step you through the resources and the learning process.
What do you need to know?
The software runs on a variety of hardware configurations. Some receive tasks require very few physical resources. However some tasks require more receive and computer resources to process. ka9q-radio has two basic tasks,
First the ka9q-radio reads a data-stream from the USB 3+ port. The entire spectrum available is processed into a iqstream multiple times per second.
Second a separate process reads a specific location in the spectrum and decodes the signal protocol to either an audio or a digital format. Since these samples are small relative to the entire spectrum, ka9q-radio can sample hundreds of subsamples using multiple separate process in a multi-core CPU.
The iq samples can be processed locally or sent from one computer to another through the multicast network so the decoding can be completed on any number of other computers. Complicated configurations require more complicated configuration files.

This entire page, maintained by Dave Larsen KV0S is distilled wisdom like the above excerpt. This is “ka9q-radio for mortals” (which, in my opinion, previously required wizard-class skills). Even I can follow this info now and have a reasonable chance at success in getting ka9q-radio going.

Kudos (again) to KA9Q and now KV0S for ka9q-radio and this valuable info!

WANslam - A Zero Retries Interesting Competition

From Ward Silver N0AX via email:

The WiFi distance record reminds me that I have been imagining a combination licensed / unlicensed competition for sending data over wireless links. I call it the WANslam and the basic idea is for individuals or teams to try and send a data file over a wireless link with scoring being driven by distance, speed, bit rate, etc. There could be licensed and unlicensed categories. Although the two can't contact each other due to FCC rules, it would be a neat way for folks to learn about ham radio and interact with hams.

That… is a very cool and Zero Retries Interesting idea! That the scoring factors in speed and bit rate (and bandwidth?) makes it more interesting (to me) than the simple “we heard a signal” frequency + distance competitions.

YouTube - Two New Zero Retries Interesting (Shack) Battery Developments

These two separate YouTube videos reflect the incredible innovation in battery technology that’s going on that’s actually usable by the average Amateur Radio Operator. To date, most of the innovation in batteries for Amateur Radio has been for portable use because of the high energy / weight ratio (energy density) that makes it a lot more feasible to do portable operations with reasonable endurance. But those innovations have largely not been reasonably priced (or have high enough capacity) for “shack” usage. Until now.

The first is a 100 Ah Lithium battery that’s reasonably priced:

The second illustrates that solid state batteries are (finally) available in the real world:

Wow… and Wow!

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0002 - Chris Osburn KD7DVD (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0003 - Don Rotolo N2IRZ (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0004 - William Arcand W1WRA
Founding Member 0005 - Ben Kuhn KU0HN
Founding Member 0006 - Todd Willey KQ4FID
Founding Member 0007 - Merik Karman VK2MKZ
Founding Member 0008 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 14
Founding Member 0009 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 19
Founding Member 0010 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 39
Numerous Annual and Monthly subscribers who also generously support Zero Retries financially!

Want to Support Zero Retries?

The most effective way to support Zero Retries is to simply mention Zero Retries to your co-conspirators that are also interested in knowing more about technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio and encourage them to become a fellow subscriber.
One particularly effective method of promoting Zero Retries is to add a mention of Zero Retries to your QRZ page (or other web presence) and include a link:
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If you’d like to financially support Zero Retries, becoming a paid subscriber is greatly appreciated and helps offset expenses incurred in publishing Zero Retries. Paid subscriptions for Zero Retries are entirely optional, as explained in this special issue of ZR:
Zero Retries Administrivia - Activating Payment Options.

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories that often feature “Zero Retires Interesting” topics.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Ham Radio Workbench by George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU (and friends)
Foundations of Amateur Radio by Onno Benschop VK6FLAB

Zero Retries is currently using the Substack email publishing platform to publish Zero Retries. It’s particularly suitable for small newsletters as you can get started for no cost.

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Email issues of Zero Retries are “instrumented” by Substack to gather basic statistics about opens, clicking links, etc.

More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-08-02

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to republish an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Footnotes for this Issue

This radio is specified because it’s currently in production and provides a flat audio I/O connection (without the extra cost of the Yaesu System Fusion capability which is irrelevant for data communications in this discussion).

There was also one 6 MHz channel that was reserved for public safety communications, which is an entire story in itself.

This is another big chunk of writing work for a future, detailed article about M17 Data, and inclusion in the eventual M17 book.

I have no idea who such “competent and reasonably trustworthy, low cost, turnkey assemblers“ actually are… but there’s ample experience within the small innovative Amateur Radio ecosystem of who the reliable vendors are.

Zero Retries 0162

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

26 July 2024 at 22:30

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0162

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Paid Subscribers Update

My belated thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 21 for becoming a New Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries on 2024-02-09. That acknowledgement should have appeared in Zero Retries 0139, and I apologize for that omission.

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 06 for being a Renewed Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 07 for being a Renewed Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 40 for upgrading from a free subscriber to Zero Retries to an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 4 weeks!
Pacificon 2024 in San Ramon, California, USA on 2024-10-18 thru 20 in 12 weeks. Tina KD7WSF and I plan to attend Pacificon 2024 (which makes it “major” to us). I have offered to do a presentation about Technological Innovation in Amateur Radio, and (I think) my proposal has been accepted.

See the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Events for additional events.

The Writing Just Gets Away From Me Sometimes

This is yet another issue of Zero Retries where the content just got away from me, and the only external indication that I had written too much was that my butt became numb from sitting too long. There are many times over the now three years of Zero Retries where the writing is just fun, and this was one of those weeks.

You’ll notice a lot of attention given to the 902-928 MHz band in this issue. There are three reasons. The first is because it’s probably my favorite band, mostly for all the interesting “Part 15” uses it has been put to over the decades since being opened for communication use in 1985. For example, a continuously deferred writing project, that I still hope to do one day, is to write a small book about the history of Metricom, who was the first company to attempt to provide a commercial Internet service using an ISM band, preceding the rise of Wireless Internet Service Providers doing so by at least a half-decade, if not more. When Metricom attempted that, the FCC initially said, “Um no, you can’t provide a commercial service in an ISM band”. Metricom said “show us in your rules where it says we can’t”. Point taken, and the FCC stood down. If you’re really interested in 902-928 MHz, I recommend reading that section in the great book Wireless Spectrum Finder, beginning on Page 153. (Thank you, Internet Archive, for making it available online, and author Bennett Z. Kobb AK4AV for writing a great book!).

The second is that writing about the myriad, and at times downright whacky uses of 902-928 MHz will be one of many recurring themes in a newsletter that I will launch sometime in Fall, 2024 that will feature my unconventional perspective on the foibles of the telecom / Internet industry. (How’s the construction of that new 5G network coming along, Dish Networks?) Most of the stories I’ll write there will relate to radio technology. I’ll be telling interesting stories to a non-Amateur Radio audience that will hopefully find that newsletter interesting enough to pay a reasonable subscription fee. At a minimum, it will be an interesting experiment for a year to see if it’s a viable product.

Third, 902-928 MHz is the “magic band” between UHF and Microwave with some of the best aspects of both. It’s nearly as large as 420-450 MHz (26, vs 30 MHz), but still relatively easy to work with, using yagi beam antennas, reasonably-priced coaxial cable, etc. with less risk to eyeballs, etc. from microwave transmissions.

Calculated Ignorance of Amateur Radio

In Zero Retries 0140, I wrote an article titled Amateur Radio and the Growth of the Spectrum Workforce in the US National Spectrum Strategy (which turned out to be a short series). Basically, the US needs (and the US Government painfully recognizes this need) many more employees that understand radio technology. It was painful to see the “gyrations” that the panelists (and government agencies) have done to recruit people into training programs to create such expertise… all while completely ignoring the existence of Amateur Radio and that participating in Amateur Radio is a defacto self-education in radio technology.

In ZR > BEACON in this issue, I mention a similar situation about the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite industry needing more employees with expertise in radio technology… but completely ignoring that Amateur Radio has been self-educating Amateur Radio Operators on radio and LEO satellite technology - for decades!

Originally I thought this was simple ignorance; the perception that Ham Radio was a thing from back in the 1950s with a huge antenna on a tower, with Grandpa sitting in the basement in front of a big tube radio set, tapping on a Morse Code key… right? That couldn’t possibly have anything to do with modern telecommunications - cell phones, Wi-Fi, or LEO satellites… right?

But now I think something else is occurring - a “calculated ignorance” of the existence of Amateur Radio and the role of Amateur Radio Operators to self-educate themselves about radio technology. I remember a memorable phrase attributed to a principal of Ziff Davis magazine publishing group when Popular Electronics (which featured a lot of electronics projects that hobbyists could tackle) transitioned to “Computers and Electronics” (with few or no projects). The quote was something like “We’re glad to make that change; we’d rather not be publishing magazines for the dirty fingernails crowd”.

I don’t think this “calculated ignorance” of Amateur Radio can last much longer - in government, in companies, in society. They need the help, (and they need it more, every month). Their “system” of recruitment, special programs, scholarships, industry training, isn’t working, at least fast enough. The “spectrum workforce” is rapidly aging out, having drawn from the big pool of radio technology experience resulting from the two way radio industry, the early cellular industry, the military (back when they didn’t depend mostly on satellites, so they cared about training radio operators), the Bell system employing lots of radio technology experts to maintain microwave networks and car telephones, even television repair. Radio equipment broke a lot back then, so you needed a lot of people that could keep it all working. Now, you mostly hear about computers and networking, and not much need for radio technology expertise if you follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for deploying Wi-Fi access points.

In considering the replacement of the Spectrum Workforce that’s aging out, it’s a much shorter leap to reach into the ranks of Amateur Radio to get that expertise than starting from scratch. In saying that, I’m not positing that the average Amateur Radio Operator is qualified to start designing cellular towers or user terminals for Low Earth Orbit satellites on the basis of their Amateur Radio experience. (I’m sure not!) But Amateur Radio Operators understand the basics of radio technology from their hands-on experience a lot better than the average person who’s never had any hands-on experience with radio technology. If you start with a Ham, you get a better, more capable Spectrum Workforce - like Qualcomm did when they recruited and hired Phil Karn KA9Q. (Read on for the relevance of that reference.)

Congrats to Tom Salzer KJ7T on 100 Issues (and 1000 Subscribers) of Random Wire Review Newsletter!

This week, KJ7T has published another all Zero Retries Interesting issue of Random Wire Review and it coincides with achieving 1000 subscribers. It’s work and commitment to publish your content consistently, and keep it consistently interesting that 1000 people commit to following your work and allow your content to come into their email inbox every week.

Congrats, Tom, and I look forward to Random Wire Review every Friday morning!

73,

Steve N8GNJ

Irrational Exuberance About Amateur Radio - Four Data Points

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Nothing great has ever been accomplished without irrational exuberance.
Tom Evslin
Irrational exuberance is pretty much the business model of Zero Retries Newsletter.
Steve Stroh N8GNJ

I used to have these two quotes on the “masthead” of Zero Retries… until Zero Retries started to get “too long” and I moved them to the About Zero Retries page to make more room for “content”.

My “irrational exuberance” about Amateur Radio has gotten me through some rough moments and low points over the three years I’ve been writing Zero Retries, such as observing too much unwarranted (in my opinion) gloom, apathy, and misogyny, and way, Way, WAY too much “Well… that’s not real Amateur Radio…” stupidity being expressed.

There is just so much cool and interesting about Amateur Radio, and even if I had started as an Amateur Radio Operator as a teen (as some have), I don’t think two full human lifetimes would be enough to learn all that I’m endlessly curious about within Amateur Radio. Here are ~~three~~ four recent stories from my perspective about why Amateur Radio (and having Amateur Radio as a part of your life) is just cool, and keeps me endlessly interested in always learning more.

HamWAN Lookout Node Repair

Last Saturday 2024-07-20, I spent the day on top of a local mountain - Lookout Mountain 1. I was one of three “ground crew” on a mission to repair two dead sectors of the “Lookout” node of the Puget Sound Data Ring (aka HamWAN).

Here’s the detail from clicking on the “nuclear symbol” of the “Lookout” node near Bellingham, Washington:

Lookout
Three sectors, plus backhaul links to SnoDEM,and Triangle Mnt
Triangle-Lookout link
distance: 55.8 miles
signal strength: null dBm
speed: 0 Mbps2
Lookout-Snodem link
distance: 53.0 miles
signal strength: -58 dBm
speed: 115.5 Mbps

The red overlays indicate a general coverage to one of the sectors on Lookout on 5.9 GHz, with reasonable effort on the user’s station such as getting a dish antenna elevated in the clear.

“Sectors” are 120 degree coverage on 5.9 GHz (Amateur Radio semi-exclusive) for user access. “Links” are point-to-point, narrow-beam, high performance redundant links for “backhaul”. Triangle is another high profile communications site in British Columbia, Canada to the North, and “Snodem” is a communications tower at the Snohomish County (Everett) Washington Department of Emergency Management headquarters.

During the previous winter, the Lookout node experienced cable damage to two of its three sectors and it was hoped that replacing the cables would restore the two sectors for full function. Fortunately that was the case - while it wasn’t simple, easy, or fast to replace the damaged cabling for the two tower climbers, it was a known process and we were able to complete that task. By late afternoon, Lookout’s three sectors were working, along with the two point-to-point links, restoring the full functionality of the Lookout node.

The Puget Sound Data Ring - PSDR (the name of the this particular network, the original / proof of concept) HamWAN (the overall technology / network architecture) is a remarkable achievement of a small group of dedicated Amateur Radio Operators to build a resilient, high speed microwave network that covers the heavily populated areas of Western Washington from Bellingham in the North, nearly to Vancouver Washington in the South. One of the primary points of design of each PSDR node is that if there is damage to sectors or point to point links on a node, the node incorporates all necessary services for that node to continue to function “standalone”. Thus users on a single sector can continue to communicate via that sector, or multiple sectors, etc. with no dependence on centralized services such as the case (and, thus, failure prone) cellular networks, or commercial microwave networks, etc.

The existence, for years now, of PSDR has been a point of irrational exuberance to me. PSDR demonstrates that a small group of Amateur Radio Operators can create and maintain such a network, and the network owners allow its use, unrestricted, by any Amateur Radio Operator that can put in the minor work to build their own user node, and learn enough about TCP/IP networking to use it without causing disruption to the network or other users. There are a number of Amateur Radio microwave networks in the US, but most (that I’ve heard of) are restricted to “authorized” users, not general access. Rocky Mountain Ham Radio’s Amateur Microwave Network is an example. That PSDR is “open access” is thus more remarkable. PSDR is “living proof” of the relevance of Amateur Radio in the 2020s - a long-distance, multi-node, high speed TCP/IP network supporting modern network services and devices such as VOIP phones, live view cameras, videoconferencing, large file transfers, etc. PSDR lives up to the ideals of Amateur Radio by offering free-to-access services and thus actively encourage Amateur Radio learning and experimentation. PSDR also makes a handy backup communications system when other communications systems fall down.

Long time readers of Zero Retries have read my regular references to the “glory days” of the Puget Sound Amateur Radio TCP/IP Network, the network of 9600 bps bit-regenerating data repeaters operating in the Seattle, Washington area in the 1990s. As much as I miss the PSARTN, and hope (and evangelize) for the equivalent capabilities in the 2020s… having the pretty unique microwave, fast, all-TCP/IP Puget Sound Data Ring is the modern equivalent of the PSARTN.

YouTube Review of Meshtastic Units by Jeff Geerling KF0MYB

Jeff Geerling KF0MYB is a recent, and somewhat “stealthy” new Amateur Radio Operator. While he doesn’t mention Amateur Radio much on his two YouTube channels Jeff Geerling and Geerling Engineering, KF0MYB is hugely influential in the Raspberry Pi and Maker community and (in my opinion) is one of the best YouTube creators.

KF0MYB and his Dad, Joe Geerling KF0MYJ got their Amateur Radio licenses at the same time, and KF0MYJ is a veteran Broadcast Engineer for a number of radio broadcast stations in the St. Louis, Missouri area, thus it’s fun to watch the two of them do a video together with KF0MYB’s younger, “hacker” perspective, and KF0MYJ’s long experience with radio technology, but being new to Amateur Radio.

I’m sure that by now, most Zero Retries readers know at least a minimal amount about Meshtastic:

It’s a decentralized, independent system with no dependencies on Internet, cellular, or satellite technology; use of GPS for location and time is optional.
Operates on small, inexpensive devices using the robust LoRa technology, on license-exempt spectrum.
When using license-exempt spectrum, no (Amateur Radio or other) license is required to use LoRa or Meshtastic.
The Meshtastic software uses the LoRa radios to form a mesh network for text messaging.
There are… many… variants of units suitable for using Meshtastic, from the minimal units that KF0MYB discusses (which pair to a Meshtastic app on a smartphone), to self-contained handheld terminals with keyboard and screen, to “node” units intended solely for creating relay points (effectively, digipeaters).

While KF0MYB’s video is about Meshtastic… it exposes his audience to independent data communications via radio, in a form that anyone who’s technical curious can learn from and experiment with. That’s effectively Amateur Radio in the 2020s, without the license. I’ve previously, and probably often quoted Mark Herbert G1LRO for stating this incredibly valuable “framing” of Meshtastic as it relates to Amateur Radio:

Meshtastic is a gateway drug into Amateur Radio!

And thus this “one more” discussion of Meshtastic on YouTube (there are many…) is just more… momentum… for those that are technically curious about radio technology to learn hands-on and experiment with it. Initially with Meshtastic or perhaps Ribbit / Rattlegram. The most adventurous experimenters will probably find their way to Amateur Radio and see the greater capabilities that are possible with Amateur Radio - higher power, more spectrum, full duplex repeaters, etc. That search for a better experience than Meshtastic may have already begun, as Andy Kirby M6JKA posits in his YouTube video MESHTASTIC is broken... SO WHATS NEXT!?.

I hope that we - the progressive elements of Amateur Radio, including us Zero Retries Co-Conspirators of “All things digital and fun” will soon be ready for them with at least equivalent, and hopefully better systems. Perhaps a “Super Meshtastic”? While a full exploration of what “Super Meshtastic” might be will have to be deferred for a future article, just imagine an implementation of Meshtastic that can take advantage of longer range links, ability to scale to thousands of users in the same network with dynamic channel assignment, etc. All of that is feasible with Amateur Radio’s tens of MHz of VHF / UHF spectrum (Meshtastic on 222 - 225 MHz, anyone?), being able to make use of independent microwave networks such as Puget Sound Data Ring (see above) and Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) networks, etc.

We can already see the outlines of Meshtastic-like capabilities in Amateur Radio with…

Devices:

New ComJot CJ-1 DMR portable radio with a current Android subsystem
Kenwood TH-D75A portable data radio with the Island Magic B.B. Link Adapter
PicoAPRS [Micro Portable] Transceiver
Mobilinkd TNC4
Digirig audio interface

Application Software

RadioMail IOS app for Winlink
WoAD Android app for Win-link
APRS.fi IOS app for APRS
APRSdroid Android app for APRS

Protocols / Networks

Winlink and its Radio Mail Server architecture (can be used peer-to-peer)
APRS Messaging - text messaging within APRS
D-RATS - text messaging within D-Star
Communication and Telemetry System (CATS) “comment whisker” (text message)
Digital Mobile Radio Messaging
POCSAG on Amateur Radio - using the robust alphanumeric paging standard in Amateur Radio

Best of all, Meshtastic is open source, so it is certainly possible for talented, motivated folks to leverage the work done with Meshtastic create a “Super Meshtastic”.

Community / Low Power FM Broadcast Radio Stations - KMRE in Bellingham, Washington

I periodically mention the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Events that I maintain. A Zero Retries reader suggested that I include the Grassroots Radio Conference 2024 because it is a conference for Community [Broadcast] Radio, which this reader considers to be Amateur Radio adjacent. The reader also mentioned that in their experience, many Amateur Radio Operators are involved in community radio stations because of their familiarity with radio technology, a chance to offering hyperlocal media coverage, and perhaps even some on-air participation. That last point isn’t entirely unknown for there to be an Amateur Radio program on broadcast radio - Ria Jairam N2RJ hosts a program on Amateur Radio on shortwave broadcast station WRMI.

That got me curious about the Community Radio station in my area - KMRE on 88.3 MHz FM, with transmitter and studio both in Bellingham, Washington. I recently met with several senior members of KMRE and I was impressed with all that they have accomplished with KMRE in the last few years, including a major fundraising campaign, receiving approval for higher transmit power (now authorized for 2000 watts), relocation of their transmitter to a better location with a higher antenna, and relocation of their studio to a local community college. It’s impressive that all management and on-air programming is done solely by volunteers.

The meeting I had with the KMRE members was preliminary, but they were interested in my technical / Amateur Radio background. I asked questions relating to their broadcast systems that few people had ever asked, and I mentioned a few perspectives that they had not considered, such as trying to work more closely with various emergency planning agencies3 in the area because they have some unique attributes:

A mission to serve the Bellingham and Whatcom County community,
A not-for-profit entity,
Facilities and management fully within the local area,
Their structure could allow for pre-emption of their local programming to broadcast continuous updates during an emergency.

I also discussed KMRE’s issues with marginal coverage over part of its service area, discussing topology, antenna placement on the tower, potential use of translators, etc. We also talked about their current reliance on a national broadband Internet provider between their studio and their transmitter, which leaped out at me as a single point of (likely) failure in an emergency.

In general, they seemed surprised that I knew a lot about broadcast radio technology despite never having been involved with broadcasting. I explained that at its most fundamental level, the technologies of broadcast radio, Amateur Radio, two-way commercial / public safety radio, cellular, and even satellite communications is pretty universal, so my experience with Amateur Radio prepared me pretty well to understand KMRE’s radio broadcast technology. I think they gained some respect for Amateur Radio during our discussions.

We briefly discussed some ideas I had for additional programming on KMRE. My involvement in a local program might be a win / win. KMRE has a good studio setup with high quality audio and recording equipment, and I had several ideas for a unique program that doesn’t overlap with any of their current programming, nor would compete with any other local broadcast station.

The overlap between Amateur Radio and Community [Broadcast] Radio is interesting and could be a lot of fun. KMRE and I still have more discussions to complete, and I look forward to seeing their studio and transmitter… which was yet another surprise to them - no one has asked to go see the transmitter before).

Thus, I can recommend reaching out to your local Community Radio station if you have some spare time to volunteer. It might be that you have capabilities from your Amateur Radio background that could help them, and you could have a lot of fun getting involved.

New Meme - Hackers Are The Future of Ham Radio

On 2024-07-15, Dan Romanchik KB6NU wrote a blog article titled Back to the future: Are hackers the future of amateur radio?

Just a few days later, KB6NU’s article was mentioned on Hackaday, and from that mention, the topic seemed to go mildly viral. I’ve seen numerous references to a new meme that seems to be developing - Hackers Are The Future of Ham Radio. KB6NU asked a question, but the meme seems to be a statement.

I think that’s because in reading KB6NU’s article about his experience at the HOPE 2024 conference, and seeing his excellent slide deck, techies can’t help but see the obvious areas of interest and overlap between their technical backgrounds (and yes, “hacking”), and the possibilities inherent in Amateur Radio. This isn’t the first time for interaction between an event within a technical community (that isn’t Amateur Radio) and presenting Amateur Radio in a “techie relevant context”. In Zero Retries 0000, I mentioned this interesting experience reported from DEFCON 2014:

Another encouraging sign is despite Amateur Radio’s (seemingly) best efforts to market Amateur Radio’s potential for self-education in wireless technology (“sushi”) as old white guys sitting in their basement tapping on a Morse Code key (“cold, dead, fish”), we have moments like this:
It's instructive that the largest Volunteer Examiner (VE) Amateur Radio license testing session was at DEFCON 22 in August 2014 (see pages 8 and 9). 205 hackers took their Amateur Radio test at DEFCON 22; the number that passed wasn't noted in the article.

There is also the very popular GNU Radio Conference -GRCon (which is the primary (non-government) event for Software Defined Radio technology. Amateur Radio License Exams are prominently listed on the sidebar of the 2024 conference, immediately under the Scheule link. Although I don’t (currently) see any Amateur Radio specific talks scheduled, I suspect it would be hard to attend GRCon 2024 and not encounter Amateur Radio at some point.

Lastly, Ham Radio Village was (as it was explained to me) originally the Amateur Radio “village” (Special Interest Group) at the annual DEFCON conferences. Ham Radio Village became so successful that it (see the mention above) that it organized itself as a standalone (US) 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization so that it could extend its mission to conferences other than DEFCON:

Strengthening the Amateur Radio community through fun events!
Our mission is to deliver high-quality and innovate amateur radio related educational content, hands-on experiences, and license testing sessions online and in-person through events. We believe that the more people know about amateur radio, the more safe, secure, functional, and innovative our wireless products, services, and experiments will be.

Conclusion

The combination of all of these recent “irrational exuberance” influences - Puget Sound Data Ring / HamWAN, Meshtastic, Community / Low Power FM Broadcast, and Hackers Are The Future of Amateur Radio all combine in my mind to inform the hopeful and progressive tone of Zero Retries. Generally, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in Amateur Radio (and adjacent to Amateur Radio).

While these sorts of things keep me going, it’s unfortunate for new Amateur Radio Operators that to know about such interesting stuff, you have to be involved with it or know where to look for the good info4. It’s no longer the case that “general interest” Amateur Radio media can “bring it to you”. They just don’t seem to be able to do that in this era, especially coverage of topics on the bleeding edges of technology like (true, not marketing-speak) Software Defined Radio technology5. I’m realistic that while Zero Retries can help expose the interesting stuff, Zero Retries is (currently) a long form text publication in what is now a short video / short audio / short text world, with 2000 or so readers, hardly any budget, and a staff of 0.5. I hope that Amateur Radio can do a better job of evangelizing these amazing new capabilities occurring within Amateur Radio, and soon. We need to let the techies / hackers know about Amateur Radio so they can join in on all the fun.

New Distance Record Claimed for 802.11ah (Wi-Fi HaLow) on 902-928 MHz (33 cm) Band

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

The 902-928 MHz (33 cm) band in North America is an underutilized resource in Amateur Radio, especially for data communications. Some recent developments may make 902-928 MHz much more usable for Amateur Radio data communications.

In this article, I’m not referencing the use of voice radios (such commercial / public safety radios re-tuned from 800 MHz to 902-928 MHz.

902-928 MHz (33 cm) Band Primer

There are several issues that have stymied the widespread use of the 902-928 MHz (33 cm) band for data communications in Amateur Radio:

902-928 MHz is an Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) “US Part 15” license-exempt band that is only allocated in North America and a few other countries. It is not a worldwide allocation. The Amateur Radio allocation of 902-928 MHz is a 100% overlay of the same band, with Amateur Radio having some additional privileges beyond license-exempt such as the ability to use higher power transmissions.
There are overlapping use cases for 902-928 MHz beyond license-exempt and Amateur Radio, such as a proposed terrestrial navigation system and various US Government use such as US Navy RADAR. One early wireless local area network system that used 902-928 MHz was NCR WaveLAN (which at least a few folks connected external antennas to). For a time, 902-928 MHz was used intensively in a few US cities by the now-defunct Metricom Ricochet 6 Internet Access network.
902-928 MHz is now the primary band used for various Internet of Things systems and networks such as Automatic Meter Reading (AMR), stream flow monitoring, and other low-data-rate activities that are mostly “transmit-only”. Thus there is a large amount of “activity” in 902-928 MHz. Note that “activity” is not the same as “interference” as “Part 15.247” regulations require that
Unlicensed devices must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
Lack of standardization between manufacturers and products (proprietary products / standards), meant that…
Prices of 902-928 MHz products remained high (captive markets), compared to products available for 2.4 GHz and 5-6 GHz,
Relatively few products available as the Wireless ISP industry largely abandoned 902-928 MHz because demand for high Internet speeds could not be accommodated in a “noisy” band with only 26 MHz of spectrum.

That said, there are many proprietary data radios available for 902-928 MHz band such as Doodle Labs Mesh Rider and FreeWave Technologies FGR3 Series.

902-928 MHz is now seeing a resurgence in use by (license-exempt) experimenters because of the rise of Meshtastic which is based on LoRa radios operating in license-exempt spectrum. In the US, LoRa radios primarily operate on 902-928 MHz. LoRa devices have become so ubiquitous that LoRa has become a defacto industry standard and thus there is interoperability between various LoRa devices - because all LoRa radios are manufactured by Semtech.

IEEE 802.11ah / Wi-Fi HaLow; the Emergence of Teledatics

In the last few years, a relatively new standard for data radios for 902-928 MHz has begun to be widely implemented - IEEE Standard 802.11ah / Wi-Fi HaLow. Note that these are two different things. 802.11ah is a standard but from long experience, it’s possible for two manufacturers to build products to the same standard… and for those two manufacturer’s products not to interoperate. Thus to insure interoperability, the only solution was to buy only one manufacturer’s products with the ~~assumption~~ hope that interoperability would be maintained within their product lines and periodic updates to their products.

The Wi-Fi Alliance was formed to fix that problem in the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) industry and has created interoperability standards separate from the IEEE standards. The Wi-Fi brand name and various sub-brands (such as Wi-Fi HaLow) can only to be used on products that have passed Wi-Fi Alliance’s interoperability testing and are thus proven to be interoperable with other manufacturer’s products.

But it takes time for such standards / industry / products and a customer base to “gell” together, and we now (finally) seem to be at that point with Wi-Fi certified products that operate in 902-928 MHz - Wi-Fi HaLow.

Teledatics is a new company that is focused on making Wi-Fi HaLow products.

I discussed Teledatics’ first product in Zero Retries 0038 on 2022-03-18 - Halo TD-XPAH - New 902-928 MHz 802.11ah Radio. While I bought that product from its crowdsourcing campaign, I have yet to install it and test it (writing Zero Retries keeps me pretty busy).

Per a “coming soon” page on Crowd Supply, Teledatics seems to be on the cusp of introducing two new product lines for 902-928 MHz - HaloMax and LoraMax.

HaloMax is a small unit that does 802.11ah on 902-928 MHz, and the article claims it is compliant with Wi-Fi HaLow. It has an external antenna connector and transmit power is 1 watt. The stated application is “Extreme range Wi-Fi HaLow communication“.

LoraMax is a small unit that does LoRa on 902-928 MHz and also Bluetooth (on 2.4 GHz). It has an external antenna connector (presumably for 902-928 MHz) and the transmit power (presumably for 902-928 MHz) is 1 watt. The stated application is “Extreme range LoRa and Meshtastic communication“.

Both units are offered in modules that can be soldered down to a printed circuit board, or as an M.2 card. The latter is significant as the new Raspberry Pi 5 includes a PCIe 2.0 interface, and there are now a number of RPi 5 PCIe 2.0 to M.2 card adapters available. Thus, theoretically, a HaloMax or LoraMax could be “plug and play” with a Raspberry Pi 5, perhaps even remotable on a tower or other remote location when using a Power Over Ethernet (POE) adapter.

To demonstrate the long range capabilities of the HaloMax unit, Teledatics conducted a range test on two mountaintops - Mount Greylock and Mount Wachusett in Massachusetts, and wrote a white paper about the results.

Teledatics Smashes Wi-Fi HaLow Distance Record
Groundbreaking Achievement Showcases the Future of Long-Range Wireless Communication
Summary
Teledatics, in collaboration with Newracom and TE Connectivity, has set a new benchmark in wireless communication by achieving a 106-kilometer (66 mile) Wi-Fi HaLow connection. This groundbreaking test demonstrates the potential of Wi-Fi HaLow technology for long-range, low-power applications, paving the way for innovative wireless solutions and industrial applications.
…
Performance Metrics
The test achieved impressive performance metrics.
Signal strengths: -81 to -92 dB
Connection bandwidth: 1, 2, and 4 MHz
Frequency range: 902 to 928 MHz
Distance: 106 kilometers (66 miles)
…
tx bitrate: 6.0 MBit/s
rx bitrate: 6.0 MBit/s

While the range figure is impressive in the context of license-exempt systems, and the “bitrate” seems reasonable for 902-928 MHz, the white paper does not mention any performance (speed) testing being conducted, nor what speeds are possible with what “Connection Bandwidth”. For context, some amazing potential speeds are stated in the Wikipedia article about 802.11ah such as a conservative example of 20 Mbps when using 64 QAM modulation in a 4 MHz channel.

In correspondence with Teledatics I pointed out that while their range achievement is impressive for license-exempt systems (and previous range testing for 902-928 MHz systems), such range figures between mountaintops with clear line of sight and ample Fresnel Zone clearance are routine in the context of Amateur Radio VHF / UHF / microwave experimentation, including frequencies up to 10 GHz (and possibly higher).

Whether HaloMax and LoraMax will be useful within Amateur Radio will depend on pricing, their real world performance, and their ability to integrate with other Amateur Radio systems. This should be doable, at least with the M.2 card versions as they are stated to have these communications options:

USB
UART
SPI
I2C

The primary differentiation between 902-928 MHz and 2.4 GHz / 5-6 GHz is that the former does provide some tree penetration, and the latter requires clear line of sight (no trees). In situations where trees are an issue (such as communicating between two stations in a heavily wooded area) and thus a 902-928 MHz link / network might work, but a 2.4 GHz or 5-6 GHz link / network would not work. Another differentiation is that antennas for 902-928 MHz are generally conventional yagi beam antennas rather than dish antennas that are conventional for 2.4 and 5-GHz.

At a minimum, if the pricing is reasonable and the availability is reasonably soon, Teledatics’ HaloMax and LoraMax products with their 1 watt transmit power on 902-928 MHz might make some interesting alternatives for Amateur Radio and Meshtastic networking.

Admittedly it’s a stretch to imagine this possibility, but if Teledatics could adapt their 902-928 MHz products for the 1240-1300 MHz (23 cm) band, that band is accessible in some form to Amateur Radio Operators worldwide (unlike 902-928 MHz).

Disclaimer - I have experienced mixed results from participating in several crowdfunding campaigns on Crowd Supply. As a result, despite offered discounts, I no longer participate in the pre-production crowdfunding phases of Crowd Supply projects. I only purchase Crowd Supply products after they are in production and are shipping from stock. Your experiences and risk tolerance may vary.

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

The LEO Satellite Industry Needs More Engineers

Kathy Pretz in IEEE Spectrum Online - 2024-01-07:

IEEE is holding educational workshops about the field
…
The LEO satellite market is likely to grow from more than US $4 billion in 2022 to nearly $7 billion in 2031, according to Business Research Insights.
Although the market is growing, the number of engineers and technologists who understand the complicated systems is not. That’s why in 2021 IEEE launched the Low-Earth-Orbit Satellites and Systems (LEO SatS) project under the leadership of Witold Kinsner. The IEEE Fellow is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Manitoba, Canada, and past vice president of IEEE Educational Activities.

My thanks to Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Dan Romanchik KB6NU for pointing out this article in his article Wanna work with satellites? Get an amateur radio license.

The article then focuses on the efforts of the IEEE Low-Earth-Orbit Satellites and Systems (LEO SatS) project. The article points out that it has held a number of workshops and other events to educate engineers and students about opportunities in the industry, but it makes no mention of amateur radio. I think that’s a mistake, and I’ve just emailed the leader of the program, Witold Kinsner, reminding him of the role that amateur radio could play.

KB6NU explains the situation very well, and he’s on it.

Some Promising Movement From ARRL Towards “The Next Generation” and STEM

Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Dan Romanchik KB6NU - ARRL Member Bulletin on second board meeting of 2024:

Yesterday, the ARRL published a report on the second board meeting of the year. There’s a lot to like here.
I like the new mission statement. “ARRL’s mission is to promote and protect the art, science, and enjoyment of amateur radio, and to develop the next generation of radio amateurs” is short and to the point, and I like the emphasis on developing the next generation of radio amateurs.

KB6NU reprints the entire article from the ARRL, so please read that for full context.

It’s encouraging that ARRL is at least acknowledging that there is a next generation! In my opinion, way too much of what the ARRL does seems driven by the Amateur Radio Re-enactment League7 mentality such as an entire section of QST devoted to reprinting excerpts of QST from decades ago (free content, plus nostalgia). I like the additional emphasis of promoting Amateur Radio as part of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculums. Sadly, despite the discussion about the increasingly shaky financial foundation of ARRL, they still don’t seem to recognize that the “put their content behind a paywall” strategy is a mostly-failed business model (at least for “hobby” content) and that ARRL’s primary “enemy” isn’t content piracy… it’s irrelevance. In this era of publicly available content, ARRL’s content is, essentially non-existent unless you’re a paid-up ARRL member.8 Also, sadly I concur with KB6NU’s dismay about no recognition by the ARRL in new (current) technology radically changing Amateur Radio such as Software Defined Transceivers:

Aside from the mission statement, there’s nothing in the report that points to the ARRL taking a leadership position in technology development. This is a technical hobby, and the hobby’s “national organization” should take a leadership role in the technology9.

Connect Systems CS7000 M17 Is Now Shipping From Stock

Connect Systems Newsletter 2024-07-23:

CS7000 M17 has shipped
All orders of the CS7000 M17 has shipped. Additional radios are now available for immediate shipping.
Application Notes for CS7000 M17
We have very detailed application notes for the following:
Updating firmware in M17 mode
Converting between M17 and DMR
Converting between DMR and M17
If you have the radio you must read it. If you are thinking about getting the radio or curious you can also read it. The link to the page the application note is on is below. The application notes are at the bottom of the page.
Application Notes

And there will be at least one major firmware update soon, per the Connect Systems Newsletter 2024-07-24:

Status of New Firmware
Currently I'm doing a pass of refactoring/ reworking/ consolidation of all the work done so far. Immediately after this, I'll implement the persistence of settings and VFO, which is fundamental, and send you another firmware image. I cannot make an exact estimate, but I hope to have something ready by the end of the next week.

Congrats and Kudos to Connect Systems (Jerry Wanger KK6LFS) for stepping up to the challenge (and considerable expense) to create and ship the very first commercial M17-native radio units that provide M17 capability out of the box.

Even after years of development, it’s early days for actually getting M17-native radios into folk’s hands for real-world usage (as opposed to adapters such as Module 17 or M17-over-Internet usage). M17 is a big deal because M17 is the digital voice system for VHF / UHF Amateur Radio that is open source (no dependency on a proprietary CODEC) and is designed for Amateur Radio.

The CS7000 M17 is so new it’s not yet listed on Connect Systems’ main Amateur Radio page, and the purchase page for the CS7000 M17 states that it’s still in the pre-order stage (for the $449 discount price) and availability is “Late September 2024”. But note that second line above - “Additional radios are now available for immediate shipping”.

At least two folks on the m17-users email list report that they’ve received their CS7000 M17 radios.

As for being able to use M17 with a repeater, the primary method of creating an M17-capable repeater is to embed a Multi Mode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM) into an FM repeater, which then enables a number of Digital Voice modes, including M17 (included since 2020). Thus I recommend some reading:

Zero Retries 0107 - Building an M17 Repeater
Zero Retries 0124 - Multi-Mode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM) Update - October 2023
Zero Retries 0130 - Reimagining Amateur Radio Repeaters in the MMDVM Era
How to make a MMDVM Digital Repeater
W6CX-DV -- MultiMode Digital Voice Repeater
It’s unfortunately not reflected in the “declared” Digital Voice modes this repeater supports, but it has been reported to support M17 (and it was tested). Note this subtle mention on the page: We are one of the first repeaters to now support the patent free M17 digital voice mode.

BridgeCom Systems BCM-220 Mobile (Data) Radio on Sale for $250

The BridgeCom Systems BCM-220 222-225 MHz mobile / base radio is normally $350, but currently there is a “code” (BCM100OFF) shown on the sales page for $100 off at checkout. The BCM-220 has two Zero Retries Interesting features:

It can operate in the 219-220 MHz “data band” - the only Amateur Radio unit that I know of that can do so without modification.
It has a flat audio connector on the rear enabling it to be used for high speed data such as VARA FM. The connector is a unique high density 15-pin DSUB connector (same as a computer VGA connector). Fortunately, Masters Communications offers the BCM-6 adapter to convert this odd connector to a standard 6-pin MiniDIN “data” connector for Amateur Radio data use.

WSJT-X SuperFox Verification is Flawed

“xssfox” on their blog (discovered via Mastodon):

WSJT-X has published a release candidate which includes a new fox mode called SuperFox which promises a +10dB total system gain compared to the old fox mode. It also comes with a “SuperFox digital signature” in attempt to alleviate dx-pedition pirates. Verification of dx-peditions is an excellent idea, and I really want to see this problem be solved.
…
Security by obscurity is a bad idea
I’m sure you already know this one. Security by hiding the algorithm is a bad idea. You might have noticed that when I walked through how SuperFox is meant to work, that there was no step for where “WSJT-X downloads latest keys” or “user inserts public key”. That’s because the only security provided by this system is from the algorithm used to “sign” the messages.
The good news is that it’s no longer obscure…
mwheeler@foxbook superfox_keygen % gcc -I. main.c <censored>.c
mwheeler@foxbook superfox_keygen % ./a.out N0CALL
OP0C-COPY
I spent a little bit of time looking at how the binaries worked and made my own implementation of the key generator.
A public release of this code as GPL will be available after the Jarvis Island 2024 dx-pedition.

Oops. Great example that it’s not just a good idea to encourage young, energetic hackers to get involved in Amateur Radio… it’s essential because of issues like this. Given that xssfox disclaims that they’re not a cryptography expert, they seem to have effectively hacked this system in short order. As they discuss, there are better approaches to a situation like this, and there are ample cryptography experts within Amateur Radio if they were to put the call out.

Fun Read - Geek of the Week - Phil Karn from 1994-01-26

Malamud: You’re perhaps best known in the Internet as the author of KA9Q. Why don’t you tell us what KA9Q is?
Karn: Okay well, first of all, KA9Q was actually my amateur radio call, my ham radio call sign. I’ve been a radio amateur since I was in high school. It’s uh, been some time now. But that name has gotten applied to a package of software I wrote primarily for amateur packet radio use. It does TCP/IP under DOS machines. However it has found quite a following beyond amateur radio. And a lot of are people running it who have nothing to do with amateur radio.

Definitely a fun read - recommended! This interview was conducted on Internet Talk Radio by Carl Malamud. It was a “conventional” talk radio interview program… that was made available on the nascent Internet rather than broadcast radio.

The Beauty of Keyboard to Keyboard Digi Modes

Michael Clemens DK1MI:

…
I find it absolutely fascinating to be able to make longer intercontinental conversations with just a little power and even in less than ideal conditions. You have a lot more time to think during the conversation as it would be in SSB, which is very helpful if you're not talking/typing in your native language. I used a mixture of macros and manual keystrokes to automate, for example, the beginning of each pass or the transitions to the other station, but also longer blocks of text such as the station description.
But even with macro-based QSOs you learn much more about the person on the other side than in any FT8 or in most SSB QSOs. It was the latter in particular that I realized with regret. SSB remains my main mode, but I have now found a functioning alternative mode that meets my requirements.
I would like others to give the many different keyboard to keyboard modes available a chance. I keep reading about younger radio amateurs who don't dare to try SSB and prefer to communicate via the computer and then use FT8.
The main message of this post: Modes like Olivia, JS8call and PSK31 offer a great opportunity to communicate non-verbally but still personally. It could be the perfect way to enjoy ham radio as an introvert or as a ham with a sub-optimal antenna situation in a way that it's still a personal communication between humans.

I’m in complete agreement, and when I get back on HF, data modes will be primary for me, both networking (exchanging automated messages and files) and keyboard to keyboard chatting as DK1MI describes.

Working the International Space Station from a Commodore 64

Alick Gardiner (2021):

Using the ISS digipeater from a Pakratt PK-232MBX TNC, Yaesu FTM7250 and Commodore 64
After getting my Amateur radio licence I was wondering what to do next and noticed that my Commodore 64 was sitting right next to my Transceiver and remembered when researching my BBS See previous blog post that there were packet radio BBSs. Packet radio to a BBS probably isn’t practical since I’d be the only person in the local area using it, but packet radio (Sending/receiving data packets via radio instead of through the internet) was an interesting idea, and the fact that the International Space station has a repeater for packet radio seemed like a good final objective.
…
Note that this writeup won’t assume a lot of prior knowledge. As a lot of this hardware is 30-40 years old it can be tough scraping together relevant bits of information from many disparate sources among the dead links or discovering it yourself so I’m going to go into a lot of detail here for the next person.

This article goes into an impressive amount of detail on how they were able to accomplish this.

An Initial Review of the RFNM Software Defined Radio

RTL-SDR.com:

Last year the RFNM (RF Not Magic) software-defined radio was announced and opened up for pre-orders. RFNM is an SDR based on the new 12-bit LA9310 baseband processor chip, and together with either a 'Granita' or 'Lime' daughter board it is capable of tuning from 10 - 7200 MHz or 5 - 3500 MHz respectively. It is also capable of wide bandwidth - up to 153.6 MHz on a host device like a PC. The RFNM is affordable, costing US$299 for the motherboard, US$179 for the Lime board, and US$249 for the Granita board. Currently, the second production batch is available for preorder.

Um, wow… tuning range of 5 - 3500 MHz? Up to 153.6 MHz bandwidth? Double Wow! To handle the “153.6 MHz bandwidth” requires connecting two USB cables - interesting approach! This would be an ideal Software Defined Radio for use on the 60 MHz of the Amateur Radio 1240 - 1300 MHz band. Per the review, apparently the software support for the RFNM is “in the early stages”. But, still…

Arizona Beacon Project - Carrier+Q65+CW

Chuck Claver NJ6D on the RFZero email list:

Here in central and southern Arizona we have benefitted from several beacons run by Tom, N7GP, over many years. These beacons served most of Arizona as well as the greater Southwest US. Unfortunately these beacon have gone QRT following a significant desert monsoon storm, knocking out antennas and supports.
The Arizona VHF Society is embarking on rebuilding these beacons and expanding their technical capabilities while we are at it. We are aiming for beacons on 50, 144, 222, 432, 902 and 1296 to start with and future plans to expand upward into the microwave allocations. We are wanting to implement beacons with carrier, CW and Q65 segments in the transmit cycle. The specific Q65 mode will be band specific. During the carrier portion we also want to control a step attenuator to set calibrated level offsets - e.g 0dB, -10dB, -20dB, -30dB and- 40dB - or other offsets allowed by a controllable/programmable attenuator. We may even want to apply offsets to the Q65 signal as well.

Sounds like a fascinating project, and the RFZero community was welcoming and responsive to NJ6D’s inquiries about using RFZero as the primary component in these beacons.

Packet RF Forwarding Network Adds New Station

Glenn Allison N3MEL on the EastNetPacket and Packet-Radio-RF-Forwarding email lists:

We have added a new station in Florida, and we are very happy to have KD4WLE as the latest station to join the network. Although, at the current time, there are no RF partners in Sean's NVIS range, we would like to change that as soon as possible.
KD4WLE and N3MEL have linked over AXIP temporally to bridge the gap. This will allow any local station to KD4WLE access to the forwarding network.
If there are any stations from Southern Virginia to Northern Florida that would like to become a network forwarding partner, please let me know either by email or direct pack message.
We are not only looking at the East Coast but across the US as well. I know there are others linked via HF around the country, and we would like to link these others in. We only need one of these linked stations to consider putting up a VARA HF Port on our 40 & 80M frequency. There is no need to [interrupt] your other connections but only consider being a part of our growing network with the sole purpose of having a network that is not reliant on the internet and our aging infrastructure.
Those of you on the West Coast might consider contacting Chris KQ6UP. He may be interested in doing RF forwarding there.
Thank you to all the stations listed below for being part of the Packet RF Forwarding Network.
Current Network Stations & Status
Maine:
W1DTX 40M
Connecticut:
K1AJD 40M
Central New York
KP3FT 40 & 80M w/ARDOP
K1YMI 40 & 80M
Eastern Pennsylvania:
N3MEL 40 & 80M w/ARDOP
KC3SMW 40M Currently Offline
Northern Delaware:
KA3VSP 40 & 80M
Southern New Jersey:
KD2HZG 40M
Northern Virginia:
KN4LQN 40 & 80M w/ARDOP
NEW East Central Florida:
KD4WLE 40M
40M 7.103.2 dial UBS VARA HF & ARDOP BW500 offset 1500 Daytime
80M 3.596 dial UBS VARA HF & ARDOP BW500 offset 1500 Nighttime

It is so cool to watch Amateur Radio automatic message forwarding on HF re-emerge as more viable in the 2020s than in the early days of Packet Radio (when 300 bps AFSK AX.25 was used, poorly adapted for HF and no Forward Error Correction - FEC was used).

The use of Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) provides reliable regional communications via HF, which is a needed complement for networking on VHF / UHF where it’s sometimes hard to bridge “gaps” of VHF / UHF coverage. (The long stretches of “not much” in the Western US, and especially the interior of Texas come to mind as ideal for NVIS.)

The use of the more advanced data modes specifically designed for HF of VARA HF and Amateur Radio Digital Open Protocol (ARDOP) has (in my opinion) changed the paradigm of automatic message forwarding on HF from a marginal technique to “just works”.

It’s doubly cool that there is discussion about forming a US West Coast Amateur Radio NVIS network like the activity underway on the US East Coast.

WINTNC Update - 2024-07-21

Jon Welch G7JJF on the WINTNC email list:

Since its creation, WINTNC has been written for and compiled using Borland C++ For Windows Ver 5.02. The Borland compiler was last updated in 1997 and has since been discontinued. When I started to convert WINTNC to be 32 bit compatible in 2023, it was easier to continue using the Borland C++ compiler rather than update the code to use a more modern compiler. The conversion seems to have worked very well but the time has now come to abandon the Borland compiler and switch to something more modern and maintainable. Therefore, I have converted the code to use Visual Studio 2022 as an IDE/Compiler and also converted the old format help file (tnc.hlp) to a more modern compiled HTML help file (wintnc.chm). This change should also make converting the code to be 64 bit compatible much easier when the time comes that Microsoft abandons 32 bit software.
Using a newer compiler is a big change and I have hopefully caught all the bugs introduced by the conversion but please let me know if anything doesn’t work properly. The new version is file compatible with your existing WINTNC installation so you won’t loose any PMS mail files or users you already have. Having said that, do please backup your current working system first before upgrading to the new version.
A side effect of the upgrade is that some dialog boxes currently won’t look as pretty as the previous version as Borland used their own controls for things like OK/Cancel/Help buttons with icons for ticks, crosses and help question marks etc. I haven’t created new buttons yet so they are still plain and boring looking. Hopefully, this will get addressed in a future update.
I have also added a telstar client if you connect to any BPQ nodes that are supporting the telstar server. Alternatively, do a 'C glasstty.com:6502' from a cmd: prompt.
Image courtesy of Jon Welch G7JJF
I haven't added the updated info to the web site yet but you can download the installation file from https://www.g7jjf.com/progs/wintnc210.exe. From now on, I won't be doing separate update files and full installation files. They will all be full installation files and will ask whether you want to perform a full install or upgrade over an existing installation keeping existing files intact.

I’m a fan of G7JJF and WINTNC! Initially he revived WINTNC to be able to run on current versions of Windows and removed the payment / registration requirement. Then he continued to improve WINTNC in 2024 with additional features and fixes. Now this “big lift” of switching compiler software.

Kudos to G7JJF for “WINTNC 2024”!

WINTNC looks so usable and approachable for working with a KISS TNC. One of my personal experiments in the near future to give WINTNC a try with a few modern KISS TNCs such as the SMT TARPN NinoTNC (a version of the NinoTNC that uses Surface Mount Technology components, and is sold assembled and tested). We really need user friendly systems like WINTNC to be able to effectively evangelize Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio data communications, bringing it out of the paradigms of the “DOS” era.

Further reading on “friendly” user interfaces:

Zero Retries 0147 - Why It's So Hard to Get People Excited About Using Connected Packet Systems
Zero Retries 0147 - We Need Better, More Flexible User Interfaces

Three Zero Retries Interesting Articles by Jason Rausch K4APR

While browsing for something else, I ran across these three useful Zero Retries Interesting articles by Jason Rausch K4APR.

K4APR is the proprietor of RPC Electronics LLC (mentioned in the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Small Vendors) and the creator of the SMT TARPN NinoTNC (a version of the NinoTNC that uses Surface Mount Technology components, and is sold assembled and tested).

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0002 - Chris Osburn KD7DVD (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0003 - Don Rotolo N2IRZ (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0004 - William Arcand W1WRA
Founding Member 0005 - Ben Kuhn KU0HN
Founding Member 0006 - Todd Willey KQ4FID
Founding Member 0007 - Merik Karman VK2MKZ
Founding Member 0008 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 14
Founding Member 0009 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 19
Founding Member 0010 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 39
Numerous Annual and Monthly subscribers who also generously support Zero Retries financially!

Want to Support Zero Retries?

The most effective way to support Zero Retries is to simply mention Zero Retries to your co-conspirators that are also interested in knowing more about technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio and encourage them to become a fellow subscriber.
One particularly effective method of promoting Zero Retries is to add a mention of Zero Retries to your QRZ page (or other web presence) and include a link:
https://www.zeroretries.org

If you’d like to financially support Zero Retries, becoming a paid subscriber is greatly appreciated and helps offset expenses incurred in publishing Zero Retries. Paid subscriptions for Zero Retries are entirely optional, as explained in this special issue of ZR:
Zero Retries Administrivia - Activating Payment Options.

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories that often feature “Zero Retires Interesting” topics.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Ham Radio Workbench by George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU (and friends)
Foundations of Amateur Radio by Onno Benschop VK6FLAB

Zero Retries is currently using the Substack email publishing platform to publish Zero Retries. It’s particularly suitable for small newsletters as you can get started for no cost.

If you’re reading this issue on the web and you’d like to see Zero Retries in your email Inbox every Friday afternoon, just click below to join 1800+ other subscribers:

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Social Media:

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VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog

Email issues of Zero Retries are “instrumented” by Substack to gather basic statistics about opens, clicking links, etc.

More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-07-26

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to republish an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Footnotes for this Issue

The photo in the link is apparently when the tower was very new; it’s nothing like that now, covered with many antennas and microwave dishes.

The HamWAN website is not exactly up-to-date, and details like this don’t necessarily reflect the current state of the Puget Sound Data Ring.

Involvement beyond KMRE’s (and every broadcast station’s) involvement in the US Government’s Emergency Alert System (EAS).

One great example of “knowing where to look” is the free (recently retitled) Amateur Television Journal newsletter by Jim Andrews KH6HTV, published approximately weekly. It’s a wealth of information about modern (digital) Amateur Television systems, including repeaters, the digital technology used, user equipment, appropriate antennas, etc. I’ve not read this kind of detail anywhere else… but you have to know where to look in order to find this info.

One example is that there is now an Open Source Software Defined Radio implementation of LoRa. Per the article, more than one! With that, Amateur Radio can tailor LoRa for more appropriate use in Amateur Radio - LoRa on 222-225 MHz, using higher power, different patterns, etc. The general Amateur Radio media is still trying to catch up with explaining LoRa and Chirp Spread Spectrum.

As recently as a few years ago, Ricochet poletop nodes were still powered on and “chirping away” in the Seattle area on 902-928 MHz. Electric utility companies chose not to remove them unless a power pole required servicing.

My thanks to Ward Silver N0AX for that memorable phrase.

In contrast to ARRL’s paywall model of content, you can read every word, of every issue, of 73 Magazine and Ham Radio Magazine online, for free, and download them as PDFs, but not QST.

ARRL used to do so. Just one example is that ARRL was very involved in popularizing Amateur Radio Packet Radio and the AX.25 protocol.

Finding Your Best Crystal Radio ‘DX Diode’

AmateurRadio.com

Steve VE7SL

20 July 2024 at 22:51

Over the past few weeks I’ve had time to examine many dozens of diodes, mostly germanium, in my crystal radio diode collection. Many of them were removed from equipment built in the '50s and '60s (old diode matrix boards), some are vintage NIB 1N34As w...

💾

Finding Your Best Crystal Radio 'DX Diode'

Steve McDonald

20 July 2024 at 22:51

There are numerous excellent websites such as this one by Dick Kleijer or SV3ORA's site ... all describing elaborate ways to determine which diode is ‘the best one’ (the holy grail diode!) for crystal radio work. Most methods use a vigorous, somewhat complex test procedure plus a lot of math, most of which is well beyond my old brain, in attempts to flesh out each diode’s inherent characteristics ... as the sites referenced above illustrate, the simple appearance of a crystal diode belies its complexity and determining diode behaviours can be more challenging than one might suspect.

My testing procedures were much more basic, and in the end, may hopefully reveal the best diode in my collection. I think one needs to undertake this with the understanding that there really is no overall ‘best' crystal radio diode but rather, only a diode that is best for your particular system and what works best in my system may not necessarily be the best one in yours.

My plan was to measure a few diode behaviors, shrink the list of candidates and then compare them against each other in my system's high-Q tank circuit.

My first step was to measure Vf or the forward voltage needed to ‘turn the diode on’. This can usually be determined to reasonable accuracy by using the diode test function on most digital multimeters. I’ve always supposed that the diode with the lowest Vf turn-on threshold would probably be the most sensitive, but is it the only factor? Hopefully my tests would indicate if anything else is in play.

The next task was to determine the minimum signal level of a 1000 Hz modulated carrier on 1400 kHz that could be detected by each candidate diode. An RF probe was used to measure the level of signal capacitively coupled into my crystal radio’s antenna tuning stage which was then lightly coupled into the detector stage, using the diode under test. No importance was given to the actual base level of this signal other than to note the level at which it could first be detected by ear (using sound powered phones) and making sure the coupling distance between stages remained the same for all diodes under test. This allowed me to compare weak-signal diode ‘sensitivity’ to the diode’s previously measured turn-on point or Vf value. Would the diode with the lowest Vf also be the most sensitive when used in a detector circuit composed of complex impedance, resistance, reactance and capacitance values that the test diode would be looking into?

The RF signal coupling was adjusted so the injected carrier could be varied between 0 and 10mV as measured on the RF probe. For each diode, the signal level was slowly increased from ‘0’ until the 1400kHz tone-modulated AM signal could first be detected.

The lowest 'first detected' signal level was .6mV while the highest level required 3.4mV, representing a pretty good range of diode behaviours. There were 49 different diodes in the test pool.

Four of the 49 diodes detected the .6mV signal, six detected the signal at .7mV, and nine first detected the signal at .8mV. The remainder required a still higher level of injected signal. The average level of first detection was 1.2 mV.

Of the four .6mV ‘best detectors’, their turn-on Vf values ranged from .15V to .38V while the .7mV and .8mV detectors had a Vf between .181V and .40V!

It seemed, not surprisingly, that generally the higher the Vf turn-on threshold, the greater was the level of signal injection needed for first detection … but evidently using the Vf value alone to determine the ‘best diode’ was not the hard axiom I had always assumed it to be!

Since a low Vf was not necessarily needed for good sensitivity, would there by any other tests that might indicate best performance?

The next trial was to measure actual diode currents in my hi-Q detector while receiving a lightly-coupled constant level input signal (1400kHz) to see how this value related to Vf. Measured diode currents (Id) varied from 9uA to 14uA for the same level of input signal, with the diode having the lowest Vf also producing the lowest current level ... hhhm! There was more to this than I expected, but generally, the lower valued Vf diodes tended to produce the most current and consequently the louder headphone signal … but not always! Some diodes with a Vf as high as .46V yielded high currents!

This now begged the question, “Does the higher current diode with a higher turn on (Vf) prove to be a better overall performer than the diode that turns-on early but produces a weaker signal?” What is the relationship between diode current and weak signal detection?

The next step was to express the relationship mathematically by calculating the ratio between the diode’s Vf and the level of diode current (Id) measured in the previous test (Id / Vf). Each diode could then be assigned a number (Vdx) that might possibly indicate it’s true performance potential in my own system.

The diodes with the highest Vdx values would then be A-B tested under real receive conditions to see if any (or just one!) particular winner(s) might emerge … and if Vf was as critical as initially believed.

The Vdx values proved most interesting and seemed to account for some of the anomalies noted in earlier measurements with some of the higher Vdx values coming from diodes not necessarily with a low Vf. I’m hoping that this sorting concept properly takes into account both turn-on level (Vf) and current level (Id), since a higher level in either number will compensate for a lower level in the other. Vdx values ranged from 23 to 66, with seven diodes in the higher 53-66 range.

Click Image For Larger View

All of the 49 diode's test parameters were put onto a spreadsheet and listed in order of their Vdx value.

Click Image For Diode Spreadsheet Data

The highest Vdx assignment of 66 went to my 40-year junkbox resident, a JHS Sylvania 1N3655A microwave mixer diode. It will be interesting to see if it really is the best of the lot! Although it did not produce the loudest signal (Id) compared with others, its Vf turn-on was an impressive .181V and its weak-signal detection level was good although not the lowest. A couple of the UHF diodes exhibited the interesting behaviour of picking up the UHF data stream 'clicks' from my nearby wifi booster. The 1N3655A was one of them.

1N3655A Vf = .181V Id = 12uA Vdx = 66

Diode #2, with a Vdx of 62, is a mystery diode with a very low Vf of .197V. It was slightly louder and oddly enough, dug down slightly further than the 1N3655A, which had a slightly lower Vf. Although I don’t recall specifically, I suspect the diode may have been removed from a VCR front end many years ago.

Mystery diode Vf =.197V Id = 12.2uA Vdx = 62

Diode #3 with a Vdx of 61 is a modern SMS7630 Schottky microwave detector diode in an SMD package. Although it did not produce a competitive level of loudness (Id) in the diode current test, its shockingly low Vf turn-on of .147V and weak-signal detection threshold were the best of all diodes tested. Before testing, all SMD diodes were mounted on small PC boards in order to attach leads.

SMS7630 Schottky Vf = .147V Id = 9uA Vdx = 61

Diode #4 (Vdx of 60) is an ISS98, another modern Schottky microwave detector. I recall seeing this diode recommended for good performance in an FM crystal radio detector. Its sensitivity level was excellent.

ISS98 Schottky Vf = .211V Id = 12.5uA Vdx = 60

Diode #5 (also with a Vdx of 60) appears to be a normal germanium of unknown type. I suspect it was used as an RF mixer since it was found on a small printed circuit board with three others, connected in a diode ring configuration typically seen in balanced RF mixers. It produced high current as well as good weak signal capability.

Mystery diode Vf = .22 Id = 13.2uA Vdx = 60

Diode #6 (Vdx of 55) also looks like a germanium of unknown type with a body striping of gray-white-green-gray. If the last band is ignored, this could be a 1N895, a UHF germanium diode. It shows the typical internal cat-whisker type of junction often seen on the 1N34 germaniums.

Mystery diode Vf = .238V Id = 13uA Vdx = 55

Diode #7 with a Vdx of 53 is marked as a ‘95481’ on a green body. It had excellent sensitivity and produced a strong signal (Id), elevating it to the top tier to be looked at more closely.

'95481' Vf = .246V Id = 13uA Vdx = 53

Diode #8, another germanium mystery, earned a Vdx of 49 due to its fairly high Id level.

Black 'T'. Vf = .258V Id = 12.5uA Vdx = 49

The rather beat-up looking Diode #9 is marked with what appear to be house numbers, '1846' and '6628'. I believe this was pulled from an old portable radio's FM section many years ago. Interestingly, like some of the UHF mixer diodes, '1846 / 6628' detects my high speed modem data stream clicks. Additionally, this tortured specimen produced the highest level of signal among all 49 diodes, with an Id of 14uA.

Vf = .294V Vdx = 48 Vdx = 14 (Schottky?)

Diode #10 appears to be the brother of Diode #8 with a Vdx of 48. Although it has a lower turn-on point and was a better weak signal detector, it did not produce as much Id as its sibling, dropping it one notch lower on the list. Like its brother, it also has the mystery 'T' marking. Both are most likely unmarked 1N34As.

Vf = .252V Id = 12 Vdx = 48

As well, three other diodes garnered my interest. Although they ranked lower than I expected, all had previously been found to be good detectors in my system. Their lower ranking may be a hint that my system of grading is not a valid method of determining best performance. All three will be given a harder look in the upcoming elimination tests.

The first is the germanium FO-215. Often touted as 'the holy grail' crystal radio diode but I have never found it to be particularly outstanding. Maybe my system has a lower Q than it really needs in order to show its stuff. This diode is shown on the bar graph above as #11. During testing, it appeared much less capable of weak signal detection than most others but its low Vf and high Id elevated its overall ranking.

Vf = .272V Id = 13uA Vdx = 48

The second diode is the Soviet-era D18, a military-grade germanium in a glass '50s-style package. I have previously found it to be a very good detector but its high turn-on level lowered its ranking. The D18 appears on the bar graph as #12.

Vf = .366V Id = 12.2uA Vdx = 33

The third diode is a vintage Sylvania 1N34 from the 50s and likely one of the first 1N34s to be manufactured. Although it produces a loud signal, its Vf was higher than expected. As I recall, it was salvaged from an old parted-out Heathkit. It appears on the bar graph as #13.

Vf = .335V Id = 13uA Vdx = 39

As mentioned earlier, one can measure and calculate a large amount of data for crystal diodes while they sit passively on the bench but they really need to be mounted, tested and compared in the actual system in which they will be used. Comparing diodes 'A-B' style in real time with weak signals may be better than any measurements made on a diode being bench-tested.

Will a new ‘holy-grail’ emerge from the pile? This type of testing requires a lot of careful listening so time will tell.

Testing will be ongoing over the summer / fall months ... stay tuned for the final results, hopefully in time for the fall DX season!

Zero Retries 0161

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

19 July 2024 at 22:30

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Request To Send
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Followup on HAM RADIO 2024 (Lack of) Zero Retries Interesting Developments
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Back to the Future: Are Hackers the Future of Amateur Radio?
Dan Romanchik KB6NU
What I've Been up to in Open Ham Radio - July 2024
Hibby MM0RFN
ZR > BEACON
Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Join the Fun on Amateur Radio
Closing The Channel
Footnotes for this Issue

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0161

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Paul Elliott WB6CXC for being a Renewed Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!
My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 39 for becoming a New Founding Member to Zero Retries this past week!
My thanks to Chuck Hast KP4DJT for becoming a New Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week! KP4DJT shared this public message:

I was just reading your Bits Oughta Be Just Bits, and fully agree. In looking at the common products out there I also like products that use TDMA so as to also obtain more usage out of the bit stream. I was hoping that M17 would go that route. But in my view bits is bits and whatever you can stuff in a data stream should be free to go.

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 38 for becoming a New Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Paid subscriptions offset some of the costs of publishing Zero Retries weekly, and support some additional services and projects such as Zero Retries videoconferences that will debut this Fall, the forthcoming Zero Retries email list, and other ongoing expenses.

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 5 weeks!
Pacificon 2024 in San Ramon, California, USA on 2024-10-18 thru 20 in 13 weeks. Tina KD7WSF and I plan to attend Pacificon 2024 (which makes it “major” to us). I have offered to do a presentation about Technological Innovation in Amateur Radio, and (I think) my proposal has been accepted.

Have a Good Idea Suffering from Censorship or Apathy? Route Around It!

There’s a (now in-) famous phrase that many of us remember vividly from the early days of the Internet:

The Net Interprets Censorship As Damage and Routes Around It

There’s some variations of this phrase (generally attributed to John Gilmore W0GNU) but you get the idea.

I interpret this phrase very generally to mean that if there is something that you’d like to see in the world, but it isn’t there, either for reasons of active suppression… or just apathy / lack of inclusion… by people or entities that you think should be “doing something” about your idea… do it yourself!

The tools for “do it yourself” have never been better, including publishing on the Internet, or creating hardware, or creating software, or creating groups of like-minded folks.

We are not dependent on them to make good things happen in the world! In this issue of Zero Retries, the respective activities of MM0RFN and KB6NU are but two examples of that truth. Both of them saw a need and decided that they would give it a try to create the change they wanted to see in the world, and both of their activities are materially improving Amateur Radio from their individual efforts! The existence of Zero Retries is entirely an example of “I got tired of cool stuff in Amateur Radio not being mentioned by them…” and decided that I could do something about it.

Another (near future) example is an email list about a cool subject that I’d like to see more activity in, but the creator / moderator of that email list is completely unresponsive to requests to help restart the conversations there. So, I’m going to route around that email list and create a new one with the same focus. Some will criticize the creation of a second email list as “forking the conversation” or “unnecessary duplication”. Those criticisms would be valid - if the original email list was active and responsive. But it isn’t, and I’ll be stating that prominently when I start the new email list - “calling ‘em as I see ‘em”.

Thus seeing all the examples of individual empowerment here in Zero Retries, I encourage all of you Zero Retries Readers to do the same. We are not passive victims of the “Same Old, Same Old” effect that’s so pervasive in Amateur Radio! Step up out of your comfort zone and be a co-conspirator for progress in Amateur Radio (and adjacent areas to Amateur Radio such as radio experimentation that doesn’t require an Amateur Radio license, like Meshtastic and SatNOGS).

If you have an idea that you’d like to see in the world… maybe it’s just something simple like a new Packet Radio Bulletin Board System (PBBS) in your area1, but don’t know any like-minded folks in your area to help out, drop an email (or a comment) to me here at Zero Retries and I’ll publish your name, contact info, and your idea and perhaps some co-conspirators for your idea will get in touch.

Now I Know About Scheduling Publication…

In the 30 minutes prior to Zero Retries auto-publishing at 15:30 Pacific, there was an announcement that the 2024 Digital Communications Conference had been canceled. That was obviously Zero Retries Interesting and I scrambled to include it in this issue. But, I didn’t “unschedule” the auto-publication and thus as 15:30 happened, Zero Retries 0161 was auto-published in its current state, mid-edit. Fortunately it doesn’t look too bad, just the headline under ZR > BEACON didn’t quite make it into the email version. Now I know how to manage this situation in future issues.

73,

Steve N8GNJ

Followup on HAM RADIO 2024 (Lack of) Zero Retries Interesting Developments

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

This is followup to my brief mention of HAM RADIO 2024 in Zero Retries 0160.

One Zero Retries subscriber who attended HAM RADIO 2024 confirmed that they did not see any Zero Retries Interesting new products at the conference. But in that brief mention, I did not mean to say that there wasn’t any Zero Retries Interesting activity at HAM RADIO 2024.

Ample Zero Retries Interesting Activity in Europe

I should have clarified that there is considerable Zero Retries Interesting activity ongoing in Europe including:

AMSAT-DL and AMSAT-UK are active in Amateur Radio space activities,
BrandMeister network of digital repeater systems,
Es’hail 2 / QO-100 Geosynchronous Amateur Radio payload,
European Space Agency has proposed a second Geosynchronous Amateur Radio payload, potentially covering a portion of the Western Hemisphere,
HAMNET.EU microwave network,
M17 Project was begun in Europe,
Multi Mode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM) Project was begun in Europe,
New Packet Radio was begun in Europe,
Universal Radio Controller product originated in Europe.
And much more that doesn’t come readily to mind as I compose this article.

I’m sure those activities had an (ongoing) presence at HAM RADIO. I was soliciting information about new products, projects, etc. that were exhibited at HAM RADIO 2024, of which a few have now emerged.

Ulrich L. Rohde Awards

Celebrating Software Defined Radio
At Ham Radio 2024, the International amateur radio exhibition, last week in Friedrichshafen, Germany, the Software Defined Radio Academy (SDRA) celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Founded in 2014, the SDRA has become a new platform for the exchange of knowledge surrounding software defined radio. In the early years, the academy’s lectures were recorded with primitive camera technology, but today a video team takes the recordings to a completely different level. The SDRA's YouTube channel now has 150 uploads, 4850 subscribers, and many more views of the videos.
The winners of the Ulrich L. Rohde Award, created in 2022 for innovative research in the field of software defined radio, were also announced:
The GNU Radio project for its good software solutions for software defined radio (SDR) technology. GNU Radio is a free software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software-defined radios and signal processing systems.
The DARC-AJW team for the SDR questions in the new questionnaire and the standardization of education. According to group leader Matthias Jung, DL9MJ, posting on X, the team’s work “focused on integrating SDR into the German amateur radio exam and educational materials.”
Rob Robinett, AI6VN, with Paul Elliot, WB6CXC, for their fundamental work and influence on scientific research in other areas.
Christoph V. Wüllen, DL1YCF, with Laurence Barker, G8NJJ, for fundamental work on stations.
Dr. Rohde, N1UL, has been an avid amateur radio operator holding several licenses in the United States and Germany. He has been licensed since 1956 and involved in technology and systems and has received worldwide recognition. In 2015, he won first place in the ARRL DX Contest in the Northern New Jersey Section. He also operates N1UL/MM on his yacht, the Dragonfly, and is Trustee of the Marco Island Radio Club, K5MI.

I normally would not use an entire article’s contents in Zero Retries, but to excerpt just the names would lose the context, thus I opted to include the entire article, with full attribution credit to ARRL.

Kudos to all the winners of this Zero Retries Interesting award, especially to Zero Retries contributor Paul Elliot WB6CXC!

Technology Firms Recruiting at HAM RADIO 2024

Another Zero Retries Interesting followup from HAM RADIO was this public comment on KB6NU’s Ham Radio Blog by Ed Durrant DD5LP:

Given the lack of RF engineers (indeed electronic engineers in general), the recent HAM RADIO Friedrichshafen, included a job fair where 4 major technology firms were looking for suitable people to train to fill the large number of open positions that they (and other companies) have.

TetraPack One Year Followup

As I was browsing the BrandMeister website for the above, I discovered this Zero Retries Interesting announcement:

TetraPack presentation at HamRadio 2024 in Friedrichshafen
Discover today’s extraordinary unveiling from the Brandmeister TetraPack team at HamRadio 2024 in Friedrichshafen. Dive into the remarkable new features revealed in their latest project update by downloading the presentation deck here!
Supported TETRA TMO features
Group calls
Simplex and duplex individual calls
Phone calls
Short text messaging and geo-positioning
Packet data access
Bridging with BrandMeister
Group calls (any talk-group > 90 available across both networks)
Bridging talk-groups with “classic” ham-radio technologies (D-STAR, System Fusion, etc.)
Simplex individual calls and SMS bridging
SMS services via APRS/MQTT/API
Geo-positioning to APRS/MQTT/API
Supported radio-access technologies
Motorola CompactTETRA (CTS)
Motorola Dimetra (EBTS/MBTS/MTS)

TETRA is a trunked radio system for public safety / government use. Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) is also a trunked radio system, but is intended for private / commercial use. Both systems were developed in Europe by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

This is a dense presentation of (what seems to me to be) a very ambitious project. I can’t begin to do it justice in offering a compact description of this project, just a few points I think I gleaned from a quick browse:

Adapting TETRA for Amateur Radio justified a separate online network (TetraPack) that is separate from, but interoperable with the BrandMeister Network. Thus TetraPack users can converse with M17 and other Amateur Radio digital voice users via TetraPack “peering” with BrandMeister.
A TETRA base station (repeater) can scale beyond other systems. TETRA provides 4 time slots in each 25 kHz channel, and additional 25 kHz channels can be “ganged” into a TETRA base. One of the time slots is a “signaling” (control?) channel, but only one signaling time slot is required regardless of the additional 25 kHz channels used.
Tetra uses a different CODEC - ACELP which provides superior voice quality compared to DMR or P25. Per Wikipedia: The ACELP patent expired in 2018 and is now royalty-free. Thus ACELP is effectively open source (?) - no royalties due (such as the case with DMR and other Amateur Radio digital voice systems that use the DVSI AMBE CODEC chip).
This was kind of neat - It is possible to have full-duplex conversations, so your radio behaves like a cellular phone.
From a few bullet points, data seems to be supported as part of the system:
- Short text messaging
- Position data (similar to APRS)
- Packet data access
- Basic web-based browsing is possible (comparable to WAP)

The “ganging” of 25 kHz channels seems like a very powerful capability for Amateur Radio that would allow multiple Amateur Radio groups to share a common Base Station (Repeater) infrastructure (and the cost of same) at a good location. Perhaps a repeater that gangs 4x 25 kHz channels into a single 100 kHz repeater that could provide up to 15 individual timeslots for use by different clubs, different user groups such as one devoted to travelers passing through, different activities such as data and text chat, regular nets that don’t “monopolize” the system, etc.

Attending HAM RADIO is on my “bucket list” and I hope to do so in within the next few years.

Back to the Future: Are Hackers the Future of Amateur Radio?

By Dan Romanchik KB6NU

Editor’s Note: This article was originally posted KB6NU’s Ham Radio Blog by Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Dan Romanchik KB6NU. It amplifies on a central theme of Zero Retries, that if Amateur Radio is presented to the current generation (which skews “technical” more than previous generations) and specifically presented to techies… Amateur Radio looks pretty interesting. But a “presentation of Amateur Radio” must be relevant to that audience, and KB6NU absolutely nails that in his excellent set of slides for the referenced presentation at the HOPE Conference. KB6NU’s article is getting a lot of traction, including a prominent mention on Hackaday, and to date has garnered 98 comments.

Last fall, under the aegis of Ham Radio Village, I was awarded a grant to take my one-day Tech class on the road. Ham Radio Village believes that more people in technical fields should have amateur radio licenses and that amateur radio is underrepresented in the hacker, STEM/STEAM, and maker communities. Currently, there is little outreach to these communities about the benefits of amateur radio in their fields.

Enter the “ham radio evangelist.” In October of 2023, we applied for and were awarded an $18,000 grant to reach out beyond the boundaries of traditional amateur radio communities, including scientific, engineering, hacker, maker, and STEM/STEAM focused conferences where attendees might have an interest in amateur radio (e.g., DEFCON, GRCon, Maker Faire, IEEE Communications Conference).

This grant provides funding to both educate these communities about amateur radio and to streamline the process of obtaining an amateur radio license. If accepted, HRV will give a talk about amateur radio, teach a one-day Technician Class license course, and offer a Volunteer Examiner test session at an event. These activities will provide these new hams with a lifelong hobby that aligns with their professional and technical interests. And, it will also enable these new hams to bring their experiences and ideas to amateur radio, thereby advancing the hobby.

HOPE couldn’t have gone any better

HOPE XV was the first event at which we evangelized ham radio. In my mind, it couldn’t have gone any better.

On Friday, I gave a talk entitled “Ham Radio for Hackers.” (Click here to see the slides.) I wandered in about 10 minutes before the talk was to start at 1:00 pm. There were already so many people there that I thought I was in the wrong room.

Adding to my confusion, was the fact that the slide announcing the previous talk was still up on the screen. I turned around and started heading out, but caught myself before I left the room. This had to be the place, and indeed it was.

In the talk, I explained some of the basics of amateur radio, discussed some of the projects that radio amateurs are currently hacking on, and then how to get a ~~hacking~~, errrr ham radio license. I probably could have gone into a little more depth on some of the projects, but in general, I think that the talk was very well-received.

Tech class yields 25 new hams

On Saturday, I held my one-day Tech class. I was concerned that attendance would be poor because:

They scheduled the class on Saturday, and there were lots of other interesting talks being held that day.
They scheduled the class to start at 10:30 am, which could have thrown off my timing.

As it turned out, the class went really well. The students asked lots of questions—which caused the class to run about an hour longer than usual—but they were all good questions. 25 hackers passed the test and got their licenses. There were some failures, but it’s unclear whether those people were in the class or not. We invited anyone to show up at 5:00 pm and take the test, whether they were in the class or not. I’m going to claim that 100% of the students passed the test.

I can say that all those who passed the test were very excited that they did. Many of them came up to me after the class and thanked me. I can also say that this group was much younger than normal. I’m guessing that there were only two students over the age of 50. There was a good number of women, too. I counted at least six women.

I really want to thank the VE team. Without them, this couldn’t have happened. They were:

Seth, N2SPG
Nicole, AD2IM
Ed, N2XDD
Grant, W4KEK
Vlad, AF7QV

A great start

I think that this is a great start to the ham radio evangelist program. Not only did we license 25 new hams, they all seem very interested in the hobby.

I also talked to a lot of different people about the program. One fellow, a young guy working with the Philadelphia Maker Faire, invited me to contact him about doing a class next spring.

So, onward and upward! I think the hackers at HOPE are just the kind of people we want to get into the hobby. They’re young and interested in hacking ham radio. It will be fun to see what they can do.

…

Editor’s Note: Again, KB6NU posted his slides for this presentation in another post on his blog, and each of them I wholeheartedly agree with the points he made to this audience.

In addition to his Amateur Radio evangelism, KB6NU publishes an excellent set of No-Nonsense Study Guides for the US Amateur Radio Technician, General, and Extra classes of license - recommended! KB6NU generously offers his Technician study guide as a free PDF.

https://sourceforge.net/p/wsjt/mailman/message/58790809/

What I've been up to in Open Ham Radio - July 2024

By Hibby MM0RFN

Editor’s Note: This was originally a casual, personal email from MM0RFN to me, and I thought it was so informative about the UK Packet Radio Network and associated projects that I encouraged him to make it into an article that could be cited in Zero Retries. MM0RFN generously agreed for this to be a full article in Zero Retries.

…

I do a lot in free software for ham radio, and Steve at Zero Retries encouraged me to take this email I sent him and translate it into something here.

UK Packet Radio Network

UKPRN is going nicely, with the Nottingham and South segment really quite impressively interconnected over RF -https://nodes.ukpacketradio.network/packet-network-map.html?rfonly=1. I’m excited to see the growth down there!

We’re sorting out forwarding and routes in Aberdeen too, and working to grow the RF path to Inverness.

We’re still selling and shipping NinoTNC boards & controllers - see the current preorder happening here. New people are coming on air - it’s fun to see new bubbles of activity slowly appear. This month has seen a number of UK Foundation licensees (Technician equivalent) set up unattended ‘GB7xxx’ callsign packet nodes - a privilege that was previously restricted to Full (Extra) license holders only - they are limited to 5W ERP, but it’s made growing the network infrastructure hugely more accessible to all interested parties.

Packet Radio Guide

In the odd periods of quiet I’ve found, I’ve been fiddling with writing Hibby’s Packet Radio Guide (HPRG) -

https://guide.foxk.it/

as a method of documenting what I know in an accessible format for our new users to accompany my repository. This is largely written from a Debian/Ubuntu/Raspi perspective and makes the assumption you’ll install packages from my Repository, but hopefully the Beginners guide and Linux Primer will prove helpful. I’m slowly building out bits as creativity hits me, but the process of writing, thinking about presentation of information and focus is quite therapeutic!

Writing the guide has been a great excuse to focus on the ‘first timer’ elements of Linux - specifically why are things different from Windows, what do I need to learn, how do I edit text (as much as I love vim & nano, they aren’t really beginner friendly!) and I’ve been trying to incorporate elements of that.

Maxwell

HPRG has made me focus quite a lot on the new-user experience - resultantly I have been toying with the idea of starting a Debian based Distribution that contains a set of sensible default packages to get people on the air with the packet guide onboard as a help reference and recommendations of next steps for explorers. It feels like quite a natural progression for the repositories - pre-installed, just download and go.

I have the first live-tests of the project codenamed ‘Maxwell’ running in a VM and a laptop. I want a common interface and package set across both x86/64 and arm64/armhf architectures, so it’s predictably usable and understandable across laptops and Raspberry Pis. It’s not yet publicly available, maybe by the end of summer. I think there’s a lot to be said for something that ships both pre-prepared and documented and has a bit more focus/face than ‘the Debian Hamradio Team’ or ‘Ubuntu Hamradio’ and builds on the work I already do.

This project is beginning to get off the ground - I am simultaneously working on build infrastructure, live-cd build infrastructure, QA testing and learning hard. I’m focussing a lot on it - I find learning quite intoxicating and get into really tight iteration cycle where experiments and changes absorb all of my time and attention for days at a time.

EuroBSDCon

I am speaking about packet radio, open software and UKPRN at EuroBSD Con in September - https://events.eurobsdcon.org/2024/talk/VMBGCY/. This means I need to finish and test my FreeBSD port of BPQ32! I know it’s worked in the past, but I probably need to do some work to get it working again.

Debian Work

Hello! I’m a Debian Developer now, I’ve been once since January and have been contributing to the project since 2015!

I’ve been chipping away at bugs in Debian too! Cqrlog has been broken in Ubuntu for some time now - I’ve fixed the root cause and now it’s a work-in-progress to get the updates backported to older Ubuntus. This in particular has been on my todo list for a little too long, but Ubuntu’s SRU feels impenetrable to me as an outsider/upstreamer. Svxlink has been updated as well so that it doesn’t start all its services on boot - that was stealing soundcards from the OS and making a system unusable for anything requiring audio (including radio fun!) if you had installed the hamradio-all, hamradio-rigcontrol or hamradio-digitalvoice software collections.

WSJTX

Sadly, WSJTX, which we hold up as an example of ‘ham radio done right’ thanks to an open spec and open implementation is looking to ship binary executables with no code for their new ‘Superfox’ feature - this has already arrived in ~rc5 of their upcoming release that we’ve not yet added to Debian. I understand that it’s related to the DXPedition signing process by NorCal DXF - they will be the only group able to ‘approve’ DXPeditions (concerning for someone who’s not US based already - why do they get to be the sole arbiters of what’s real and isn’t?).

We’ll need to patch out the functionality to ship it to Debian as we cannot distribute this nonfree software, which is a great shame - our users will become second class citizens, as will Ubuntu users and other families like the Fedora users etc.

We manage to handle trusted cryptographic signatures to produce the Debian OS using only free software, but sadly the stakeholders of signatures in Superfox seem determined that obscurity and hiding the secret sauce is the correct way to combat DXPedition Piracy. The discussion is on their development mailing list around

Editor’s Postscript: My thanks again to MM0RFN for this great report, and his work on Hibby’s Packet Radio Guide. We’ve had Amateur Radio Packet Radio technology for four decades now, but it’s only been in this decade that we’re getting around to documenting the many better ways we can do Amateur Radio Packet Radio such as using the NinoTNC instead of “classic” TNCs such as the (still being sold) Kantronics KPC-3 Plus, using Raspberry Pi dedicated computers instead of desktop PCs, and modern operating systems such as Debian Linux instead of Windows (now, with interstitial advertising!). We’ve been able to do all of this, and many, many have done all of this, but what’s been lacking is a good reference on tying all of this cool stuff together. Thus kudos to MM0RFN for tackling this. Sometimes, what it takes to progress things in the world, in technology, and Amateur Radio, is for someone to decide that, well, if no one else is going to do it, I might as well try to do it.

https://groups.io/g/new-dcc

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

Breaking - 2024 Digital Communications Conference Canceled

Stana Horzepa WA1LOU on the TAPR aprssig (and several others) email list :

After careful consideration and weighing all available options, we regret to inform you that the 2024 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC), scheduled for September 20-21, 2024, has been cancelled. This decision was not made lightly, but due to logistical challenges, we believe it is in the best interest of all involved.
We understand the inconvenience this may cause and sincerely apologize for any disruption to your plans. We appreciate your understanding and support during this time. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Well… this is a shame. Like the still-unannounced death of CQ Magazine, I think it’s now reasonable to “leap” to the conclusion that we’ve seen the last “ARRL/TAPR” Digital Communications Conference (in 2022, not counting the “Mini DCC” in late 2023).

Thus I think the “field is clear” to discuss the creation of a new, independent Digital Communications Conference, and to accelerate that discussion, I’ve created a new email list:

This group is to discuss the creation and operation of a conference similar to the long-running Amateur Radio Digital Communications Conference that was formerly sponsored / managed by ARRL and TAPR. The 2024 DCC was canceled by TAPR and (at the time this group was created) it doesn't seem likely that TAPR will be able to sponsor / manage future DCCs.
Like "Old DCC", some goals of "New DCC" are:
A conference held in person in North America, over a Friday / Saturday / Sunday
Rotate the location of "New DCC" to various cities in North America
While "New DCC" would be focused on the in-person experience, it would be live video streamed, and recorded for later archival viewing.
Presentation of formal papers / presentations will be a primary aspect of "New DCC".
A "New DCC" would have to be operated independently, perhaps creating a new organization solely focused on conducting such a conference.
Thus, (at least initially) lacking the resources of a sponsoring organization such as TAPR, financial aspects of such a conference will be a primary point of discussion; without financial resources, such an event cannot be scheduled.

Texas Amateurs Prepare for Moon Day Demonstration

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2437 for Friday July 12th, 2024:

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Between an eclipse in the spring and then flares and storms a few weeks ago, the sun has been getting a lot of attention lately. Now it's the moon's turn - and Travis Lisk N3ILS tells us how the moon is getting its day, at least in Texas.
TRAVIS: The Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas is once again marking "Moon Day" on the 20th of July, a date to celebrate the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission's landing on the moon. According to the schedule of events, the moon will have its day in the sun at last through a variety of presentations. The Dallas Amateur Radio Club will show how hams communicate via EME, or moon bounce and AMSAT ambassadors will be present to demonstrate what radio communication is like through amateur satellites. The keynote speaker will be former NASA astronaut Gregory Johnson, whose experience piloting early space shuttle flights contributed toward the construction of the International Space Station.
The six-hour program is considered the year's largest space-related event in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
This is Travis Lisk N3ILS.
(AMSAT)

Because Amateur Radio Newsline is intended as an audio program, they typically don’t feature web links of the source of their info - in this case, only a reference to “AMSAT”. The closest match I could find on the AMSAT website was this:

Tom Schuessler is still looking for a few volunteers from the DFW area to assist with the “Moon Day event at the Frontiers of Flight Museum on Saturday, July 20. This is a general public STEAM day with seminars, activities and exhibitors relating to space exploration and astronomy. He will have the CubeSat Simulator, Fox engineering model, explanation of satellite orbits and if available in the time frame, outdoor satellite passes worked. Volunteers get free admission and lunch and a break area. Tom needs to know by probably middle of next week. Drop Tom an email at tschuessler [at] amsat [dot]org. [ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.]

The activities relating to Amateur Radio (Earth Moon Earth communications! Amateur Radio Satellites!) at Dallas (Texas, USA) Frontiers of Flight Museum on July 20th (55th anniversary of humanity’s first steps on Luna) is even grander than what I had imagined (on a personal scale) for my idea I called “Neil’s Night” (Part 1, Part 2). I never realized any of what I discussed about Neil’s Night; the idea was much more ambitious than I ended up having personal bandwidth to implement. But I’m glad someone had the vision to combine the grandest adventure of humanity to date with hands-on involvement in Amateur Radio at a very public venue. Kudos to Tom Schuessler N5HYP and the Dallas Amateur Radio Club for stepping up to this challenge!

Perhaps the ideas of the Frontiers of Flight Museum’s Moon Day 2024 event could be duplicated in 2025 at other aviation-themed museums such as Seattle’s Museum of Flight, Washington DC’s Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Dayton Ohio’s National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, etc. … if enough interested and motivated Amateur Radio Operators can be found to participate.

In fact, wouldn’t it be cool if aviation-themed museums (there are a number of them) that host “Moon Day” events made it a point to try to “work each other” on Earth Moon Earth communications?

Information Technology Disaster Resource Center (ITDRC) Update

ITDRC is a relatively new Communications Emergency Response organization that I think is relevant in this decade and beyond because its capabilities reflect current emergency communications needs for the public such as providing emergency Internet connectivity via Wi-Fi, etc. While ITDRC is interested in Amateur Radio experience (it’s one of the questions on their volunteer form), it’s not a primary qualification.

Thus I feature information from ITDRC occasionally in Zero Retries.

2024 has been a very busy year so far.
From tornadoes, to wildfires, to an unseasonably early Hurricane Beryl, catastrophic events have impacted a huge portion of the country in the last few months, sending our teams from coast to coast.
Since the end of April, ITDRC has responded to 15 significant events, providing boots on the ground connectivity and technology infrastructure support. With resources activated within 24 hours, we ensured response and recovery agencies across sectors could effectively mobilize to help communities impacted, and ultimately help survivors heal.
New Mexico Wildfires
On Monday June 17, 2024, the South Fork and Salt fires ignited on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. ITDRC has been actively engaged; coordinating with federal, local, state, tribal, non-governmental, and private sector entities to provide Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) support to responders and the impacted communities.
May 2024 Severe Weather and Tornado Outbreak
ITDRC is providing support to communities in Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas after a dangerous storm system made its way across the US.
Hurricane Idalia
Teams are providing emergency communications, WiFi connectivity, and cell phone charging stations in shelters and command centers and performing assessments for unmet communications and technical needs.

If I was younger and more flexible, I would probably be involved in ITDRC. If you’re interested in ITDRC, their website is https://www.itdrc.org.

Support What You Want to See in the World

Jason Milldrum NT7S in Applied Etherics newsletter:

A few weeks ago, I ran across a guest essay from Wojciech Kaczmarski, SP5WWP on the Zero Retries Substack entitled What Stalls Amateur Radio Development? I don’t necessarily agree with everything written in this editorial, but I do believe in the general message that we need new ways of funding our FOSS amateur radio/hobby electronics endeavors, if we all want to continue to enjoy the fruits of many valuable hours of development from talented people in this hobby.
I’d like to note that this is not some kind of passive-aggressive way to nudge you to support me financially on this Substack. If anything, this is a way for me to attempt to hold myself publicly accountable so that I more fully live up to the ideals that I’m espousing here, as well as to try to put these ideas in front of more peoples’ eyeballs. I would encourage you to support projects and creators that inspire you the most. With that in mind, I’m going to pull some quotes out of the linked article so I can riff off them to add some of my own ideas. I encourage you to follow the link above to read the article in its entirety.
…
With that said, let me make some suggestions for concrete actions that you can take to help move things in a better direction:
The biggest thing you can do is provide that financial contribution to projects that you use regularly or simply want to see succeed. I’m working on changing my habits so that I can budget a bit more every month to contribute to creators and projects on a continuing basis.
If you find a problem with a project, be quick to offer positive feedback and help, and slow to offer criticism. Pointing out issues is necessary, but let’s not do it in a needlessly critical way, nor use them as a cudgel against the people working on the project.
In a similar vein, if you really feel strongly about something with one of these projects, put some skin in the game. Whether it is via your time or financially, your opinion means a lot more if you actually have something riding on it.
In general, try to patronize small creators and businesses more often. Please don’t buy clones off of Aliexpress and the like. None of us are getting rich off of this, and when some random overseas company free-rides on a small creator’s designs, it just hurts the prospects of future work being done.
One area where I know we need a lot more work is in social networking. YouTubers are already pretty good at this, but I think it would be beneficial if we all started supporting and cross-promoting each other more. I don’t know exactly how this should work in practice, so any suggestions would be most helpful.
It’s a huge cliché, but we’re going to have to be the kind of change that we want in this world. By learning some new habits, we can create a more self-sustaining ecology that will benefit all of us in the long run.

NT7S’ entire article is well worth a read and he makes additional points beyond what SP5WWP and I have made in Zero Retries.

For support, as soon as NT7S begins offering his Etherkit products again, I’ll add him to the Zero Retries Interesting Small Vendors Catalog.

QUISK Software Defined Radio Software

What is Quisk?

Quisk is a Software Defined Radio (SDR) and is the software that controls my receiver and transmitter. Quisk rhymes with "brisk", and is QSK plus a few letters to make it easier to pronounce. QSK is a Q signal meaning full breakin CW, and Quisk has been designed for low latency CW operation. It works fine for SSB and AM too. Quisk is written in Python and C, and all source is included so you can change it yourself. The Quisk receiver can read the sample data, tune it, filter it, demodulate it, and send the audio to the sound card for output to external headphones or speakers. The Quisk transmitter can accept microphone input and send that to your transmitter via a soundcard or Ethernet. For CW, Quisk can mute the audio and substitute a side tone. Quisk offers these capabilities:
Quisk can control the HiQSDR.
Quisk can control Hermes-Lite hardware.
Quisk can control SoftRock hardware for both receive and transmit.
Quisk can control the SDR-IQ by RfSpace, and several other hardwares.
If you have supported hardware, then Quisk is ready for you to use. If you have other receive hardware, then you will need to change the file quisk_hardware.py to connect your receiver to Quisk. For example, if you change your VFO frequency with a serial port, then you need to change quisk_hardware.py to send characters to the serial port. The file quisk_hardware.py is written in the Python programming language, a very easy language to learn and use. I have tried to make Quisk easy to modify so it can be used for hardware other than my own.

My thanks to Amateur Radio Weekly Issue 339 for the pointer to Quisk.

WiMo Window Quad Dualband 2m / 70cm Antenna

An interesting product from WiMo in Germany:

Image courtesy of WiMo
Quad loop as a mono band antenna for 2m or 70cm, or a dual band version for both bands. Full wavelength loop, gain approx. 1dBD, includes BNC connector. The loop can be opened at one corner, which allows for fast and very small packing. SWR adjustment with a plastic screw at gamma match feed. Both antennas are mounted to the window with oversized suction cups, can be mounted either for horizontal or vertical polarization.

I saw this interesting antenna at a recent Amateur Radio club meeting and it seems a perfect external antenna for use in an apartment or condo or even a home where you cannot otherwise install external antennas. It’s very light weight and can be collapsed easily, so it’s even suitable for traveling. I’ve not seen anything similar from US Amateur Radio sources.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
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Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
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Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories that often feature “Zero Retires Interesting” topics.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
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Zero Retries (N8GNJ) is also on Bluesky — @n8gnj — just click:

Email issues of Zero Retries are “instrumented” by Substack to gather basic statistics about opens, clicking links, etc.

More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-07-19

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to republish an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Footnotes for this Issue

Putting up a PBBS is one of my top 5 priorities for Summer 2024.

Hamvoip dead?

Steve

17 July 2024 at 02:40

There hasn't been a post on their list since May 2024.

And now that AllstarLink has annouced:

"AllStarLink is proud to announce ASL3, the next generation of AllStar repeater and hotspot software. ASL3 is built to run on Asterisk 20, the latest operating systems, and modern hardware. Asterisk 20 brings over 15 years of bug fixes, security improvements, and enhancements."

It begs the question if anyone will continue to care about hamvoip. While it wasn't opensource it may have served a role as a competitor to AllStarLink's distribution an caused them (ASL) to buckle down on development.

What is sad is all the time and improvements made to the hamvoip distribution is now effectively lost and a wasted effort since the source code was never made public.

This is kind of what needs to happen to the ARRL. They need a competitor so that they buckle down.... but I digress...

Zero Retries 0160

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

13 July 2024 at 00:07

Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. Now in its ~~third~~ fourth year of publication, with ~~1800~~ 1900+ subscribers. Radios are computers - with antennas!

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0160

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 05 for renewing their Annual Paid Subscription to Zero Retries this past week!

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 36 for becoming a new Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 37 for becoming a new Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 6 weeks!
Digital Communications Conference (DCC) in Knoxville, Tennessee on 2024-09-20 and 21, in 10 weeks! The DCC will be held in conjunction with GNU Radio Conference 2024 (GRCon24).
Pacificon 2024 in San Ramon, California, USA on 2024-10-18 thru 20 in 14 weeks. Tina KD7WSF and I plan to attend Pacificon 2024 (which makes it “major” to us).

Recent updates in the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences include these events:

Zero Retries Readers in Certain States Needed

Glancing at one of the many obscure status pages for Zero Retries in Substack - Audience Insights, this statement got my attention:

Location
Zero Retries is read across 49 US states and 58 countries.

49 states??? I clicked into that section to find out who the holdout state was, and actually there are several Zero Retries “holdout” states (have no Zero Retries subscribers):

Alaska
Mississippi
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Dakota
South Carolina
Vermont
Wyoming

I’m a bit skeptical of this metric, given that Substack only knows about email addresses and IP addresses when you read or click on an issue of Zero Retries. “Registration” with personal identifying information, like address, isn’t required for subscribing to Zero Retries.

Still, if you know of a co-conspirator that might be interested in Zero Retries, located in the Zero Retries holdout states, please put in a good word for Zero Retries 😄.

“According to these stats”, the most popular state for Zero Retries (14%) is California. Washington and Oregon are tied for second most popular state - 8% for each of them.

Worldwide, Zero Retries is still pretty obscure, though it’s making some inroads, with one subscriber each in:

Argentina
Chile
Hungary
Norway
Romania
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland

Again, these stats are highly suspect; despite a subscriber count of 1800+, per this report there are 275 subscribers in the US. And no subscribers in Peru - bummer! The map was skewed to the point where I couldn’t find several countries despite browsing the cursor in the areas where I know some small countries are located.

But it was kind of fun to look at this.

Thank you again, Zero Retries subscribers!

Beginning the Fourth Year of Zero Retries - With 1900+ Subscribers!

I once read a story1 about Steve Jobs that when he became CEO of Apple (again), he was checking out his new offices and came across a closet full of older Apple units that were being saved for an eventual on-premise Apple Museum. The story goes that Jobs told his assistant to get rid of them, donate them somewhere. The memorable part of that story, to me, is that Jobs reportedly said that “If you look backwards in this industry, you’ll get run over” (or “you’ll get killed”, or something to that effect).

I thought about that pearl of wisdom from Jobs this week as I approached the 3 year anniversary of Zero Retries (2nd Friday of July) and am now faced with how to deal with the legacy of securing hundreds of issues of Zero Retries into archival form. I was discussing with a trusted advisor to Zero Retries on how best, and most efficiently, to secure those past issues issues into a permanent archival form, safe from the vagaries of Substack. I felt like Jobs did upon seeing that closet full of computers; time spent dealing with the Zero Retries archive is time away from creating new material for Zero Retries, and of course the fun of Amateur Radio activities. But unlike Jobs, creating archives of Zero Retries is a unique task that falls to me (though the trusted advisor suggested outsourcing this task).

I don’t have any profound insights to offer for Zero Retries having been in continuous weekly publication for three years now; just a few minor insights.

The first is that I periodically need to emphasize to Zero Retries readers that most of what I’m writing about in Zero Retries is largely exposing technological innovation in Amateur Radio that others are doing that isn’t being reported on elsewhere. I periodically offer some of my own thoughts about technological innovation that I’d like to see Amateur Radio go in… but beyond Zero Retries, my contributions to technological innovation in Amateur Radio are pretty modest. There have been a few surprises, such as Mark Herbert G1LRO creating an Amateur Radio Data Appliance that I only imagined:

In this article by Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Steve sets out the functionality required to create the Amateur Radio Data Appliance, being:
Power supply
Battery backup
Radio transceiver
Modem
Embedded computer with a minimal display for status / health / troubleshooting
Networking required to for remote access via “household” network (not Internet)
Most of all, cabling to interconnect all of the above

And, as you’ll read, I had actually imagined something vaguely like Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (DLARC), but I did not imagine the scope of what DLARC has become, and how wonderful it is to have DLARC as a publicly accessible resource.

Although I had nothing to do with the creation of Open Source in Amateur Radio wiki, l had imagined and written briefly that such a directory was needed to be able to easily locate existing Amateur Radio Open Source projects to lessen the “reinventing the wheel” issue of creating multiple implementations of the same system. I had advocated for funding such a thing with a grant or direct involvement of ARDC, but that went nowhere, and this project is simply a better realization of my idea.

All that said, I do have some plans for doing a little of my own technological innovation in Amateur Radio that I hope to make a bit more real during Summer 2024.

When I began Zero Retries, I had a lingering fear that I would run out of interesting material to report on. I began with a substantial queue of interesting things to write about, but I wasn’t sure what would happen when I emptied that queue 🤣 - would there still be interesting things continuing to occur that I could keep Zero Retries going? This actually happened two decades ago with my Digital Wireless column in CQ Magazine. I actually did run out of things to talk at times, which caused friction with CQ’s editor about missed deadlines. The good news is that in the 2020s, the rate of technological innovation in Amateur Radio is such that the queue has kept growing, not reducing. The bad news is that caused the opposite problem to what I feared - there are too many things to write about, with not quite enough time and never enough space in Zero Retries as an email newsletter.

Another minor insight is that I now have confidence that I can sustain a weekly publication schedule, being able to say something of substance about technological innovation occurring in Amateur Radio.

Yet another minor insight is that I must be doing something right given the subscriber count keeps growing - now at 1900+. When I began Zero Retries, I did not imagine that level of interest; I only imagined perhaps a few hundred subscribers would share my specific interests in Amateur Radio… but apparently I didn’t dream big enough.

Speaking of “Dreaming Bigger”…

I have some short term plans for the Zero Retries ecosystem:

My book - Zero Retries Guide to Amateur Radio in the 21st Century is still in progress. I recently discovered an interesting service that can publish a book online (beyond a simple PDF on a website) that might speed up my progress to allow posting incremental updates (chapters) as I complete them.
I’ve been threatening to create an email list on groups.io for Zero Retries, and that is now imminent.The first tranche of invitations will go out to the paid subscribers as a Thank You for their financial support of Zero Retries. Eventually the Zero Retries email list will be opened to all Zero Retries subscribers. My idea is to post the headlines / links there each week and let the discussions between subscribers commence in a more interactive, easy to access system. The Comments section of Zero Retries on Substack has proven problematic for a lot of folks who don’t want to “get involved” in Substack’s ecosystem for various reasons (and I don’t blame them). I also plan to offer “requests for comments” for upcoming articles in Zero Retries in which I invite folks to contribute ideas and background on subjects that I need help in understanding. Zero Retries can sometimes come across as a “one man show” but believe me, I lean heavily on advice and expertise of others when I’m trying to understand and explain a deeply technical subject on Zero Retries.
Kay Savetz K6KJN and I have decided to do a podcast called Store and Forward. We conspired that we can offer a unique combination of looking back at Amateur Radio (from the perspective of DLARC) - “Store” and the future of Amateur Radio (from the perspective of Zero Retries) - “Forward”. The prototype episode of Store and Forward is online in DLARC. Initially (Summer 2024) we’ll be recording biweekly. The longer term logistics - website, podcast feed, etc. will be worked out. Both K6KJN and I have busy summer plans (some intense travel ahead for K6KJN, as you’ll read) and I just have a lot of catching up to do in N8GNJ Labs to take advantage of the summer weather interlude between the Whatcom Winds / Monsoon Rains seasons. Thus the publication schedule of Store and Forward might be a little irregular initially.

Using DLARC, Amateur Radio Operators are Resurrecting Technical Ideas from the Past, Using 21st Century Tech

I recently wrote a brief note of thanks for the existence of DLARC within the Internet Archive to Brewster Kahle, Founder and Board Chair of Internet Archive:

I just wanted to drop a note to you and IA in general as a Thanks for creating and maintaining the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications within IA.
DLARC has proven to be an absolute godsend of archival information for Amateur Radio (despite the stubborn resistance of the ARRL… which I’m working on). One of the most valuable aspects of DLARC is reading about technologies and projects that were mere dreams or not-quite-successful decades ago that can be realized now with current technology such as cheap embedded processors and FPGAs and Software Defined Radio technology.
I use DLARC multiple times per week… and contribute to it regularly, working with Kay Savetz to periodically send in material from my Amateur Radio collection that DLARC doesn’t already have.

Kahle replied and wondered if my “dreams” perspective might be expanded into a post on the Internet Archive blog, and I agreed.

That article is now online - Using DLARC, Amateur Radio Operators are Resurrecting Technical Ideas from the Past, Using 21st Century Tech. A Thank You to Internet Archive’s Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications.

Excerpt:

One of my favorite ways to use the DLARC (nearly 120,000 items now, and still growing) is to re-explore ideas that were proposed or attempted in Ham Radio, but for various reasons, didn’t quite become mainstream. Typically, the technology of earlier eras simply wasn’t up to some proposed ideas. But, with the technology of the 2020s such as cheap, powerful computers and software defined radio technology, many old ideas can be reexamined with perhaps succeed in becoming mainstream now. The problem has been that much of the source material for such “reimagining” has been languishing in file cabinets or bookcases of Ham Radio Operators like me, with nowhere to go. With the grant, IA could hire a dedicated archivist and began receiving, scanning, hosting, and aggregating electronic versions of old Ham Radio material.

Kahle noticed the post, and commented:

You are most welcome– thanks to ARDC, DLARC has been a huge success for other reasons as well: a possible model for other communities.
Kay has made this a success, I believe, because he is both a knowledgeable ham community member, and embedded at the Internet Archive (he has the tech and social chops to get things through our internal processes).
This is a first for us– and hopefully a model for archives to come.
Thank you ARDC, Kay, and ham community.

I agree wholeheartedly - while ARDC provided the funding with a grant, and IA had the infrastructure to host DLARC… K6KJN has made DLARC a success.

Not Much Zero Retries Interesting Reported from HAM RADIO 2024

I’m surprised that not much that was Zero Retries Interesting was reported out of HAM RADIO 2024 which concluded 2024-06-30, at least that I’m aware of. No new Zero Retries Interesting products, or Zero Retries Interesting new vendors, etc. Admittedly I haven’t watched the walkthrough videos that have been posted (they’re queued up in a too-deep queue of videos to watch), but I would have thought that there would be some exciting developments reported. If I missed something, please Zero Retries readers, let me know so I can share it here in Zero Retries.

Another 21st Century Telecommunications Option for N8GNJ Labs?

Most of the summer, Northwest Washington where we live is blessed by a mild summer climate, so we mostly sleep with the windows open to the fresh cool air overnight. One morning last week we awoke to hearing some voices in a small group on the edge of our property. To my delight, the voices turned out to be a survey crew from Ziply Fiber who apparently is considering bringing in fiber to our neighborhood and down our private street.

In contrast, Comcast’s infrastructure in our neighborhood is solely serviced by “well aged coaxial cable” with a fiber / coax transition well outside the neighborhood. A neighbor was experiencing significant issues with their Comcast service and reported to me that Comcast would constantly play the “reset your router and in 10 minutes it should be OK” game, replacing the router, etc. - everything to forestall sending out a technician who discovered that a previous technician had disconnected the first neighbor’s coax to bring a new neighbor online whose house previously didn’t have Comcast service. Thus switching to Starlink for my household was a relief from the vagaries of Comcast “service” over “well aged coaxial cable”.

If Ziply Fiber does become available on my street (I’ve heard of Ziply not actually deploying fiber as promised), that’s going to be a tough decision not to opt for that, if for nothing else than greatly improved uplink speeds beyond what Starlink is capable of given that I eventually plan to do video production. But it’s possible Starlink might tinker with their service plans with a more affordable price than the current $120/month for unlimited usage. I’d happily accept a transfer cap for mostly standby (or solely Amateur Radio) use for a lower price such as the $30/month Starlink currently charges for use of the new Starlink Mini user terminal.

The Random Wire Newsletter (and now Podcasts!) - Zero Retries Interesting, and Recommended

I’ve recommended The Random Wire newsletter (and now, podcasts!) in Zero Retries and would like to do so again here. Tom Salzer KJ7T is doing a stellar job exploring various aspects of Amateur Radio that I simply don’t get around to, or have much depth to offer, here in Zero Retries. One example is KJ7T’s regular coverage of radio hotspots for Amateur Radio Over Internet such as AllStarLink, covered so well that instead of trying to cover that subject in Zero Retries2, I’ll defer to KJ7T’s much better knowledge of the subject, and his constant experimentation with different aspects of Amateur Radio Over Internet.

I’ve said before that I probably wouldn’t have started Zero Retries if the stuff I’m interested in was covered adequately in other Amateur Radio media. The Random Wire is an excellent example of exactly that - covering subjects I’m interested in so well that I can just read it (enjoyably) and learn from it instead of having to research it to write about it. I’ve also been enjoying KJ7T’s foray into podcasting, following his adventures with microphones, recording, etc. Given our geographic proximity, I hope to meet up with KJ7T face to face sometime this summer. I think that if you enjoy the subject material in Zero Retries, you’ll find ample Zero Retries Interesting material in The Random Wire and I recommend that all Zero Retries subscribers also subscribe to The Random Wire.

73,

Steve N8GNJ

Image courtesy of Internet Archive / Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications

What’s New at Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications - July 2024

By Kay Savetz K6KJN

Greetings from DLARC World Headquarters, which has three big things going for it: a fast Internet connection, air conditioning, and cats to pet. In the past few weeks, I’ve added a wide variety of ham radio material to DLARC. Here’s a peek at some of it.

The DX Bulletin (TDXB) was written and published by Jim Cain, K1TN. He published 324 issues from 1979 to 1986. He scanned the entire run — about 1500 pages — years ago. The scans have been hosted by The Yasme Foundation, a non-profit that conducts scientific and educational projects related to amateur radio. Mr. Cain and Ward Silver of The Yasme Foundation agreed it would be a good idea to make the newsletters available at DLARC as well. Mr. Cain told me that in retrospect, the name The DX Bulletin was too generic — many other publications have had similar names over the years — and maybe he should have titled it “Jim Cain's Weekly DX Screed.” By any name, it’s a fascinating read and DLARC is better for its inclusion.

Cain is also the author of the book “YASME, The Danny Weil and Colvin Radio Expeditions” which is now downloadable from DLARC with his permission. From the back-of-book blurb: "This is the history of three travelers spanning the birth of YASME — the boat that carried young sailor Danny Weil on his first voyages beginning in 1954 — and the lives of famed ham radio DXpeditioners Lloyd and Iris Colvin.”

DLARC has added 217 issues of the “Blown Fuse” newsletter from the East Bay Amateur Radio Club out of El Cerrito, California. Some of them were PDFs on their web site. For the older issues that were only available on paper, the club lent us a hefty stack of newsletters to scan, some of which go all the way back to 1964. We’ve also added 113 issues of the Minnesota Amateur Radio Technical Society newsletter. The 12-year-old group is based in Minnetonka, MN.

Sometimes a simple newsletter donation turns into a whole little project. California Historical Radio Society donated, and we scanned, 35 issues of Spark Gap Times, which was the newsletter of the Old, Old Timer's Club. That organization started in 1947. At the time, the requirement for membership was proof of two-way communication by wireless 40 or more years prior to 1947. I can only assume that specific requirement was relaxed as the years passed.

The OOTC web site is gone now (replaced by a spammy ad for a sportsbook) and I guess that the organization is now defunct. The OOTC site’s last capture in the Wayback Machine was just this May. So I scoured the site in Wayback, found another 44 issues of Spark Gap Times, and added those to the collection too. Thanks to the California Historical Radio Society for the donation of those first 35 issues which started me down this rabbit hole.

Here’s a special treat for our esteemed editor, Steve Stroh: last year he donated three issues of the Texas Packet Radio Society “Quarterly Report” newsletter. TPRS was devoted to radio digital communications, and the creators of TexNet, a wireline/wireless hybrid networking project. Based on their site in The Wayback Machine, the group lasted from roughly 1996 to 2003ish. I scrounged 15 more newsletter issues from their Wayback’d web site and created the TPRS Quarterly Report newsletter collection. If you have more issues in any format, please let me know.

I was sorry to learn that Allen Katz K2UYH died in June. Katz was the publisher of 432 And Above EME News, and was a professor of electrical and computer engineering at The College of New Jersey. I am grateful that he gave permission to archive his newsletter in DLARC before he passed.

Somehow I’ve managed to write almost entirely about newsletters so far. Moving on to other topics.

DLARC has added all 99 episodes of the Ham Radio 360 podcast. This podcast ran from 2014-2018: it was a bi-weekly show created “for the new guy” hosted by Cale Nelson K4CDN. (Nelson recently launched a new podcast called PrepComms.)

Software Defined Radio Academy is an annual conference, since 2015, that covers all aspects of SDR. The hosts have done an admirable job of recording their conference’s presentations over the years, and now those talks are archived in DLARC.

Meanwhile, the Internet Archive’s scanning centers have been hard at work scanning thousands of magazines and books, which can be checked out using controlled digital lending in the DLARC Library. It would be folly to try to list them all, but I encourage you to browse around and see what’s new. Of particular note are many books and journals about microwave communications, which were a generous donation from the family of James Beyer W9ADJ, who was a specialist in that field.

If you’ll permit me a paragraph about a personal project that’s only tangentially ham radio related: I found, recovered and digitized 53 episodes of “The Famous Computer Cafe”, a radio show about home computers that was broadcast from 1983-1985. The hosts interviewed many of the big tech names of the day: Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Apple’s Bill Atkinson, Atari VP James Copland, author Timothy Leary, author Douglas Adams, and more. From the news segments to the commercials, the shows are a perfect time capsule of the world of home computers in that era. One of the interviewees is Steve Roberts, a ham radio operator. From 1983 to 1991, he explored the United States on a computerized, radio-equipped recumbent bicycle named BEHEMOTH.

Next week I’ll be leaving the cats and climate-controlled comfort of DLARC World Headquarters for Denver Colorado to retrieve pallets of material from the estate of Bob Cooper. Bob was an expert in satellite and cable TV communications, and publisher of Coops Satellite Digest. I already have a little start of a Bob Cooper collection in DLARC, but there’s sure to be much more in the coming months as we begin to process and digitize what I find in Denver.

Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications is funded by a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) to create a free digital library for the radio community, researchers, educators, and students. If you have questions about the project or material to contribute, contact me at kay@archive.org.

Kay Savetz, K6KJN
Internet Archive's Program Manager, Special Collections
DLARC want list: https://archive.org/details/dlarc-wantlist

…

Editor’s Note - K6KJN is too modest to mention this in this month’s column (which is intended to highlight new material in DLARC), but unlike DLARC, the work of digitizing the 53 episodes of “The Famous Computer Cafe” (and potentially additional episodes should they be located), is privately funded, with some reimbursement from a successful GoFundMe campaign (donations currently closed). There’s more detail about the rescue of TFCC there. Kudos to K6KJN for rescuing these treasures.

Bits Oughta Be Just Bits

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Some thoughts about the ideal interoperability of digital voice and data in Amateur Radio.

Digital repeaters are easier, and work better, than analog repeaters

I’m on an email list where the technical details of Amateur Radio repeaters are discussed… at times in excruciating technical detail. The discussion that inspired this article was about the minutiae required to keep a repeater signal and audio path absolutely “clean” for good retransmitted radio signal and good audio, including knowing about external factors that can influence the repeater’s signal quality - down into the weeds to the point of debating the relative merits of different types of coaxial cable connectors.

I’m not disparaging the concepts being discussed or the folks making offering the minutiae. But it struck me in reading the discussion that to a large extent, most of those details largely become moot if the repeater was operating as a digital system rather than analog (FM).

Disclaimer - Yes, I am acutely aware that one cannot entirely ignore the analog aspects of radio transmission. While digital systems can overcome some aspects of interference, or noise, or other radio issues… “making it digital” is certainly not a “cure all” for significant radio system issues such as major antenna and feedline issues.

In my highly inexpert opinion, almost all of the issues of the discussion I was following would simply not be an issue if that system were digital, largely because of the presence of Forward Error Correction (FEC) in modern digital radio systems. Minor noise issues on analog systems that are annoying to the point of the system being unusable (un-listenable) are simply not an issue with digital systems.

One of the most elegant digital techniques I know for Amateur Radio digital repeaters is the idea of receiving a digital signal and then applying bit regeneration at the repeater. which permits the transmitted signal from the repeater to be perfect, even if the signal received at the repeater wasn’t perfect. (Yes, I understand that there’s a threshold beyond which the FEC cannot help.) I featured an excellent article about bit regeneration in Zero Retries 0147 - Advantages of a Bit-Regenerating Repeater for Local Area Networks that explains the concept well, despite predating the now-common use of FEC.

But beyond the “digital fixes analog issues” factors, digital radio systems offer the (theoretical) advantage of being able to do data in addition to digital voice.

Bits Are Bits - once it’s digital, the bits should be agnostic.

Think about how different types of data is handled by TCP/IP and by extension, the Internet. We take it for granted that the same high speed TCP/IP connection into our homes, offices, and shacks can easily handle realtime voice (and video) bits, recorded voice (and video) bits, email bits, file download bits, photo bits, realtime telemetry bits, etc. That’s because TCP/IP generally3 treats all bits the same. It doesn’t care what the bits are supposed to be part of in the end, it just moves the bits from point A to Point B.

In Amateur Radio, we haven’t done voice / data mixing and matching particularly well to date. When there is a data capability in an Amateur Radio digital voice system, to date, data has been an afterthought. In the oldest Amateur Radio digital voice system - D-Star, there is a 900 bps data stream accompanying the (3600 bps) digital voice stream. Roughly two decades after its introduction, Icom quietly slipstreamed “DV Fast Data” mode into some radios4 which allows the digital voice stream to also be used for data. System Fusion’s data capabilities are “locked” to only support transport of images and some telemetry data such as APRS. DMR and P25 have data capability in their respective system and protocol specifications. In those systems, digital voice interoperability was extensively tested and required, but data capabilities were left to individual vendors such as Motorola and Hytera to implement a usable data option.

This is somewhat understandable - Amateur Radio has been doing voice over radio for about a century now, and data for nearly as long (Radio TeleTYpe - RTTY was used extensively in World War II). But with the technology of the 2020s and beyond, we can do better, and I posit we should do better. Amateur Radio shouldn’t remain stuck in a frame of reference from the 1960s that “repeaters are for voice”5.

Sidenote - Repeaters are for voice, Digipeaters are for data is a specious premise.

There is a “blind spot” with many Amateur Radio Operators that think that because data systems like packet radio can use digipeating to extend range, that data systems should use digipeating, and not use (simultaneous receive / transmit) repeaters to extend range of data systems.

Digipeaters can work well if they are very lightly loaded, but if there is significant usage of a digipeater, it begins to be subject to Hidden Transmitter Syndrome (Wikipedia calls this issue Hidden Node Problem).

A simple thought experiment can demonstrate what a specious premise this is. There have been “simplex voice repeaters” for decades, ever since we’ve had microprocessors that can record a transmission, and replay it back onto the same channel. It’s a poor experience at best, obvious because we can hear the poor result. No one likes using a simplex voice repeater, and will go to the trouble and expense to create a full duplex repeater instead. Digipeaters for data are no different in suffering from the poor effects of receive / buffer / retransmit on a simplex channel. It’s just that with data, the effects are hidden by the data devices.

…

We’re getting a bit better about making data equivalent to voice in Amateur Radio. As discussed in Zero Retries 0159 - M17 Data Modes, M17 can do both voice and data within the M17 protocol / systems. FreeDV is a digital voice mode for HF communications, and the modem for dealing with HF conditions is so good that there’s now work underway to use the FreeDV modem for data - FreeDATA. I’m not aware that FreeDV and FreeDATA are going to be made interoperable - send voice, or send data, interchangeably from the same app / system, but in my opinion, that should be a goal.

But the most recent such development was (welcome!) recent news from Open Research Institute about their ongoing project called Opulent Voice (emphasis mine):

Opulent Voice Flying High
Opulent Voice is an open source high bitrate digital voice (and data) protocol. It’s what we are using for our native digital uplink protocol for ORI’s broadband microwave digital satellite transponder project. Opulent Voice has excellent voice quality, putting it in a completely different category than low bitrate digital communications products such as D-Star, Yaesu System Fusion, and DMR. Opulent Voice can be used on the 70 cm band and above.
Opulent voice switches between high resolution voice and data without requiring the operator to switch to a separate packet mode. Opulent voice also handles keyboard chat and digital file transmission. Seamless integration of different data types, using modern digital communication techniques, differentiates Opulent Voice from any other amateur radio protocol.

(It’s not explained why ORI says Opulent Voice can only be used on “70 cm band and above”, possibly because the US FCC currently applies too-restrictive limits on bandwidth and data rates on VHF / UHF bands below 70 cm. Such limitations are generally not an issue outside the US, and hopefully that issue will be fixed in the US soon.)

Yes! YES!! YES!!! Someone finally gets this fundamental issue of being able to seamlessly mix digital voice and data, designed in from the beginning!!! Kudos to Open Research Institute for sponsoring this project, and to the developers who have pulled this off! I have previously not studied Opulent Voice very deeply because I was unaware of the data capability, only that it was higher quality digital voice system for Amateur Radio. But now, I will investigate Opulent Voice more deeply.

Also, it’s probably kind of assumed / understood that Opulent Voice is open source… from the Open Research Institute… but in Opulent Voice, like M17 / FreeDV / Codec 2, there’s no dependence / usage on a proprietary CODEC (chip) as there is with DMR, D-Star, System Fusion, etc. That factor is a third significant differentiation, beyond high quality voice and integrated data capability, of Opulent Voice from DMR, D-Star, SF, etc.

Gosh I look forward to sitting down at my Amateur Radio station, tuned to the local repeater, seeing a dashboard of who was recently on the repeater realtime… and reading my emails and bulletins that have queued up waiting for me… all on the same system! That will be a dream, realized.

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

RFBitBanger Batch 2 Kits Available

Kits are available at our eBay store at this link https://www.ebay.com/itm/364783754396

Be a part of the future with a prototype Batch 2 kit build of the RFBitBanger, a low-power high-frequency digital radio by Dr. Daniel Marks KW4TI. Presented by Open Research Institute, this kit is designed to produce 4 watts of power and opens up a new digital protocol called SCAMP.

SCAMP Is now available in FLDigi!
…
SCAMP is a new protocol that allows keyboard-to-keyboard contacts with a digital protocol that has excellent connection performance. See Dr. Marks presentation [link added to original text] about RFBitBanger at QSO Today Academy in September 2023 to learn more about SCAMP and the RFBitBanger project.

Open Research Institute has been busy lately, between Opulent Voice and now making RFBitBanger widely available… with the new SCAMP data mode! And as you’ll read at the link, a significant present at DEFCON32.

Project Yamhill Progress Continues

The biggest news by far is that I finally was able to submit my large PCB order for manufacturing. It was put off a lot longer than I was hoping for, because I kept finding small changes that I needed to make. However, I didn’t want to fall into the trap of analysis paralysis, so I had to commit to getting it pushed to manufacturing in order to not completely lose momentum.

I’ve been following Jason Milldrum NT7S’ progress on this ambitious project of a new low power HF radio, completely from scratch, fascinated by the detailed explanations of his design choices and the results (and sometimes, non-results) of his development process. I’m learning a lot from the insights into his development process that other developers don’t offer - NT7S is a great writer. NT7S’ newsletter Applied Ethics is Zero Retries Interesting, and recommended!

THE WORLD OF FREE PACKET SOFTWARE IN AMSTERDAM

This is an impressive archival collection of packet radio software, and some other categories. They’ve done a great job of archiving and making available a lot of historical (and often still relevant) Amateur Radio data communications software. I haven’t explored much of what they offer yet, but doing so is yet another thing that’s in my queue.

Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Small Vendors

I decided this was needed so as I develop the archives of Zero Retries, and new issues, I had a single repository to mention all the interesting Zero Retries Interesting hardware products and projects I discover and consider worth mentioning. It’s certainly not complete (done), but it is usable so I decided to mention it this week.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0002 - Chris Osburn KD7DVD (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0003 - Don Rotolo N2IRZ (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0004 - William Arcand W1WRA
Founding Member 0005 - Ben Kuhn KU0HN
Founding Member 0006 - Todd Willey KQ4FID
Founding Member 0007 - Merik Karman VK2MKZ
Founding Member 0008 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 14
Founding Member 0009 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 19
Numerous Annual and Monthly subscribers who also generously support Zero Retries financially!

Want to Support Zero Retries?

The most effective way to support Zero Retries is to simply mention Zero Retries to your co-conspirators that are also interested in knowing more about technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio and encourage them to become a fellow subscriber.
One particularly effective method of promoting Zero Retries is to add a mention of Zero Retries to your QRZ page (or other web presence) and include a link:
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If you’d like to financially support Zero Retries, becoming a paid subscriber is greatly appreciated and helps offset expenses incurred in publishing Zero Retries. Paid subscriptions for Zero Retries are entirely optional, as explained in this special issue of ZR:
Zero Retries Administrivia - Activating Payment Options.

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories that often feature “Zero Retires Interesting” topics.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Ham Radio Workbench by George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU (and friends)
Foundations of Amateur Radio by Onno Benschop VK6FLAB

Zero Retries is currently using the Substack email publishing platform to publish Zero Retries. It’s particularly suitable for small newsletters as you can get started for no cost.

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More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-07-12

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to republish an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Footnotes for this Issue

I did a brief web search for this story but didn’t find any references. This story is not related to Job’s famous commencement speech about “looking back and connecting the dots”.

AllStarLink definitely falls within the scope of Zero Retries Interesting subjects… but there are so many such subjects, and KJ7T covers it so well.

Yes, there are a few exceptions of special handling of different types of data within TCP/IP such as IP Multicast. And there are also Quality of Service (QOS) mechanisms that can be used.

In the linked article, radios supporting DV Fast Data include the ID-52A/E, IC-705, and IC-9700, and hopefully VHF / UHF radios introduced since those radios such as the IC-905.

Again, there are exceptions - there have been RTTY repeaters, and some data repeaters such as the Puget Sound Amateur Radio TCP/IP Network, Icom D-Star DD mode data repeaters (many still active), and even 56 kbps data repeaters based on the WA4DSY 56k modem.

Zero Retries 0159

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

5 July 2024 at 23:15

Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. Now in its third year of publication, with 1800+ subscribers. Radios are computers - with antennas!

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0159

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 35 for becoming a new Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Approximately one year ago, at the request of a few dedicated readers who wanted to support Zero Retries financially, I activated payment options for Zero Retries. I include this in every issue of Zero Retries at the “ending boilerplate”:

If you’d like to financially support Zero Retries, becoming a paid subscriber is greatly appreciated and helps offset expenses incurred in publishing Zero Retries. Paid subscriptions for Zero Retries are entirely optional, as explained in this special issue of ZR:
Zero Retries Administrivia - Activating Payment Options.

Some of those who began their paid subscriptions in June and July 2023 have renewed their paid subscriptions, including:

Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT
Founding Member 0002 - Chris Osburn KD7DVD
Founding Member 0003 - Don Rotolo N2IRZ
Orv Beach W6BI (Annual)
John Simmons NK0K (Annual)
Hugh Vance KW5X (Annual)
Prefers to Remain Anonymous 03 (Annual)

I am especially indebted to K3FZT for a formative conversation I had with him at Hamvention 2022 and his ongoing support and feedback on Zero Retries.

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 7 weeks!
Digital Communications Conference (DCC) in Knoxville, Tennessee on 2024-09-20 and 21, in 11 weeks! The DCC will be held in conjunction with GNU Radio Conference 2024 (GRCon24).

See the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences for other Zero Retries Interesting events.

We’re almost at the three year anniversary of Zero Retries - the 2nd Friday of July, and I’ll have some reminiscing to do next week in Zero Retries 0160, with the start of Zero Retries’ fourth year of publication.

But this has been a busy week on the personal / home front, with some travel and the US Independence Day holiday, thus I’m falling back on a favorite quote of mine from the television series Stargate SG-1, “The Serpent’s Lair”, by Col. Jack O’Neill. The context is that his team is on the cusp of beginning a “big project”.:

Well, I suppose now is the time for me to say something profound.

[long pause]

Nothing comes to mind. Let's do it.

And today a trusted advisor to Zero Retries offered this advice:

If it gets to be a grind - might already be - take 2 weeks off. Nobody'd mind. Gotta keep yourself happy.

While I’d get a bit itchy if I didn’t put out an issue of Zero Retries each week, Thank You for that grace, trusted advisor!

So please enjoy this “lite” version of Zero Retries with no heavy reading, only ZR > BEACON items.

73,

Steve N8GNJ

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

Looking for HF-forwarding packet nodes to extend RF-only network in USA

Jeff Mein KP3FT on Facebook Packet radio systems and information:

We're using VARA HF and ARDOP between NVIS-range stations. The conventional 300-baud AFSK mode isn't very good for HF links, which is why we're using VARA and ARDOP. Currently we have from NY to Virginia linked. NVIS range preferred for 24/7 links. We want to keep extending to every direction (except eastward over the ocean obviously). Map: https://www.qsl.net/swlkp3/Packet/(X)Net/NEnetwork6.png There's a Groups.io page dedicated to RF forwarding here: https://groups.io/g/Packet-Radio-RF-Forwarding The most common setup is a packet node using BPQ with a VARA HF port or ARDOP, with BBS mail forwarding set up to forward to a partner BBS using one of those modes. Other modes can be used as well, but VARA HF is easily the best performer (except probably the very expensive PACTOR mode).
Thanks, 73 Jeff KP3FT

In the early to middle stages of the “Packet Radio Revolution”, forwarding of Packet Radio Bulletin Board System (PBBS) traffic via HF was common… but problematic as the 300 baud Audio Frequency Shift Keying (AFSK) modulation and the AX.25 protocol was barely up to the task of getting messages back and forth over noisy, erratic HF frequencies. A single bit error in a packet would require resending the entire packet. In fact, it’s surprising this system worked at all. When access to the Internet became available for the general public, much of the PBBS traffic moved to the Internet… until PBBS usage fell to the point where PBBS sysops didn’t feel it was worth continuing to keep a PBBS online. But PBBS’ are seeing a resurgence, and we now have VARA HF which, in a phrase, “just works”, because it’s robust, adaptive, and offers higher data rates. For those that prefer not to use VARA HF, Amateur Radio Digital Open Protocol (ARDOP) is also an option. It’s notable that this network uses Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) techniques to “restrict” the area covered to “regional” versus “worldwide” propagation. The G8BPQ BBS package has good integration with both VARA HF and ARDOP. Kudos to KP3FT and friends for getting the radio back into Amateur Radio Networking.

HamCon:Zion 2024 Conference - 2024-07-12 and 13 in St. George, Utah

Bill Buhler AF7SJ via email:

The really cool part is that there are a lot of presentations that I believe will have a high level of appeal to Zero Retries readers:
Digital Communications by "Bucky" Buckwalter W0SUN
Mesh Networks by Frank Kostelac N7ZEV
Winlink by Gary Hutton KE7UIA
Ham Radio Homebrew by James Kretzschmar AE7AZ
Using Attenuators by myself, Bill Buhler AF7SJ (I believe a vital part of good digital experimentation / station calibration).
Build the Foundation & They Will Come by David Becar KI6OSS might be
interesting.
AI and Machine Learning in Ham Radio by Michelle Thompson W5NYV
Arduino University Workshop by Jeff Anderson (requires additional fee and pre-registration)
#APRSTHURSDAY by Mike DiTurno KC8OWL
Starlink by Jeff Baxter KE7DYR
Amateur Satellites by Ednaf Buckley N6UTC/MW1BQO & Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK / VA7E
There are several other presentation on things like the Icom 905, Yeasu System Fusion, and other more traditional ham radio topics.

For those not in the US, “Zion” refers to the nearby Zion National Park. Judging solely by the website, there seems to be an unusually high level of energy to HamCon:Zion! I agree with AF7SJ about a number of Zero Retries Interesting seminars, to which I would add Icom 905 by Scott Honaker - N7SS - Icom. This is the first time I’ve seen a seminar devoted to this radio; its unique capabilities are worth devoting a seminar session to. Had I known about this conference earlier, I might have made plans to travel and attend - the route from Bellingham to St. George looks like an interesting two-day drive. This conference is now on the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences.

If Zero Retries readers are aware of other “general” Amateur Radio conferences with a “reasonable number” of Zero Retries Interesting presentations, please let me know about them. (“Reasonable number” is entirely subjective, at your discretion from your reading of what subjects receive coverage in Zero Retries.)

New AREDN Production Release Available - 3.24.6.0

AREDN production software version 3.24.6.0 is now available, with many new features and enhancements. Besides a fix for an RF link issue that snuck past beta testing release 3.24.4.0, this release contains these fixes and enhancements:
Enhancements
Added MTR support via installable package (mtr-nojson).
Improved iPerf3 service to provide data line by line rather than at the end.
Now use the closest supernode rather than first discovered supernode.
Made LQM+OLSRD improvements where weak connections are detected.
Now detect "leaf" nodes and prevent them being blocked.
New Device Support
Antenna: Mikrotik 30 dBi 5° Dish
Antenna: airMAX 2.4 GHz, 24 dBi 6.6° RocketDish
Antenna: airMAX 3 GHz, 26 dBi 7° RocketDish
Antenna: airMAX 3 GHz, 18 dBi, 120° Sector
Antenna: airMAX 3 GHz, 12 dBi Omni
Antenna: airMAX 5 GHz, 30 dBi 5.8° RocketDish Light Weight
Antenna: Mikrotik 15 dBi 120° Sector
Antenna: Mikrotik 19 dBi 120° Sector
Antenna: Mikrotik 30 dBi 5° Dish (PA)

Plus numerous fixes and improvements. The energy and continuous improvement of the AREDN development team is really impressive. They continually demonstrate technological innovation within Amateur Radio!

If you want to learn about AREDN and experiment with (very local) Amateur Radio microwave networking, the easiest (in my opinion) and least expensive way to do so is with the GL-iNet products that are supported by AREDN.

2024 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) Sept. 20-21, Knoxville, Tennessee

I saw this terse mention of this conference only in passing in the TAPR website RSS feed. “In association with GRCon24” refers to GNU Radio Conference 2024.

Editorial - I do wish TAPR would have the courage to drop the reference to ARRL from this conference. All management, scheduling, financial commitments, etc. are solely done by TAPR; ARRL has had nearly nothing to do with this conference for decades now other than some history, passive mentions of it in their publications, and “printing” the conference Proceedings of which I’m probably one of a dozen that actually purchase them.

2024 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting – October 25th thru 27th, 2024

Doubletree by Hilton Tampa Rocky Point Waterfront
3050 N Rocky Point Drive West
Tampa, FL 33607
https://www.amsat.org/

I saw this terse mention of this conference in passing in the AMSAT News Service 182. Despite the inclusion of the AMSAT website link, at the moment there is no information about this conference available there (but ample details about the 2023 conference).

Heathkit was Acquired… And Relocated… and No One Noticed

I’ve been mildly curious about Heathkit since its “revival” early in the past decade and the “revival owners” idiosyncratic mysteriousness about not revealing the owners and other personnel of the company. Not much seems to change with “New Heathkit”, so every few years I browse around to see if there are any new developments beyond their two primary products, a clock and an AM broadcast receiver. This year’s browsing resulted in some actual news - from a LinkedIn post for Heathkit nearly a year ago:

Kirkwall is pleased to announce its acquisition of Heath Company. Following the acquisition, William Cromarty will serve as Chief Executive Officer of both companies and will oversee a relocation of manufacturing operations to North Dakota as part of a planned expansion.

There is no mention of this acquisition (or relocation of facilities) on the Heathkit website or the Heathkit page on Facebook (last post 2020-01-01).

In the time since this announcement, this statement doesn’t appear to have been realized:

This expansion of operations in North Dakota will build on the impressive work of the Heath team in reestablishing the company as the premier educational electronics kit manufacturer, and allow our team to scale operations in preparation for new product launches.

I understand that all press releases are intended to be a bit over-the-top to get noticed, but… premier educational electronics kit manufacturer??? That was true in Heathkit’s prime, but that statement is really over-the-top considering New Heathkit’s very modest product line compared to, for example, the electronic kits available from Velleman or Adafruit. But, I guess the press release served its purpose - it did get this mention.

M17 Experimental Authentication Signatures

The goal of the M17 Project is to create a digital voice / messaging / telemetry / data system for Amateur Radio VHF / UHF that does not use DVSI’s proprietary digital voice CODEC. In mid-2024, “the pieces are in place” (in my opinion) that M17 can actually be used as a radio system. Documenting the usability of M17 in real world usage, such as this item and the following two items, is an ongoing project here in Zero Retries.

Apologies for how “fuzzy” this item is, but in the past couple of weeks I saw mention by Wojciech Kaczmarski SP5WWP that he was experimenting with adding authentication signatures to M17 transmissions.

~~Unfortunately, I cannot find the actual statement from SP5WWP (he posts his ideas in a variety of places). I recorded this link, but don’t see any detail there to support the above statement.~~

Update - Found it (post publication) - M17 Project on Mastodon:

Finally some good news regarding digital signatures. I've been experimenting with ST's CMOX library and just got 160-bit ECDSA to run on the Module17. It takes around 8.25 ms to sign a 16-byte M17 voice stream digest. The signature can be appended to the voice stream. The curve used is Brainpool P-160 R1, with secp256r1 signing takes a tad under 15 ms.
^SP5WWP
In the future, users might be able to generate ECDSA key pairs and use the private key for M17 stream signing. Then, by sharing the public component, allow the rest to perform identity checks. No more impersonation.
Our protocol implementation has just been updated with experimental ECDSA signature support based on the secp256r1 curve. No signature verification has been added yet.
https://github.com/M17-Project/M17_Implementations/tree/auth
^SP5WWP
Implementing digital signatures in M17 - part 2. Looks like both encoder and decoder work together and the latter is able to verify stream signatures now.
^SP5WWP
GitHub (`auth` and `crypto` branches are the most interesting):
https://github.com/M17-Project/M17_Implementations

I think the idea is that in addition to the digitized voice or data and overhead data, an authenticated M17 transmission would interleave the data (or perhaps a separate payload) interleaved private key that can be authenticated with checking it against a person’s public key. This is a good example of the nature of an Open Source system, and the ability to extend it to experiment with new ideas that aren’t practical with “hardcoded” and commercially produced radios.

Update - (post publication) email from SP5WWP:

[Your description is correct.] The signature occupies 4 last data frames of the stream. It is generated after the data transmission has finished. When there's no more user data to transmit, a hash based on all the contents is calculated. That hash value is then signed with the user's private key. The assumption here is that there would be a central, trusted public key directory (a database with callsign-key pairs). That would ideally be run by IARU or some other international organization. I'm aware that IARU does not have enough human resources to run this, tho.
Key pair generation is trivial (under Linux CLI, it's a one-liner). An experimental (but already fully-functional, even with strong encryption) implementation is already available in our "M17_Implementations" repository ("main" branch).

Connect Systems M17 Project Status 2024-07-04

“Ongoing” communications like this are only accessible from signing up for the Connect Systems email list - there’s no web-based archive. Connect Systems is developing a pair of portable Amateur Radio units that will feature a native M17 mode - no reprogramming or modification needed. To my knowledge, these radios will be the first to feature a native M17 mode, and are hoped to be available in Summer, 2024.

Excerpt:

There is something else to consider. If I buy the AnyTone, I just give them money and I get the radio With the M17 design, the company is paying for the development to implement the protocol in our radio. Then we will support for the CS7000 M17 PLUS for the development and implementation of the other protocols such as Fusion and DSTAR.
Obviously the CS7000 M17 is costing us a lot more to buy but there is a reason. The CS7000 M17 is based on a commercial radio and the receiver is a double conversion superhet design with front end varactor tuning. That compares with the AnyTone which uses a single chip direct conversion receiver. The radio is also rated at IP-67 which means you can swim with it and not destroy it.
2. What is the status of your work and was is an approximately schedule for you to complete this part of the project.
The radio transmits and receives M17 without modulation or demodulation issues. I'm currently working on the radio driver in order to properly set up the missing parts, that are the bias voltage for the input filter and RF PA and some HR_C6000 configurations. It also seems that there is a bug somewhere that causes the radio to sometimes transmit only a carrier, but I didn't figure out yet where the problem is. I also brought up the driver to use the HR_C6000 as the audio DAC for the speaker, it needs some integration and final touches. The plan is to have a first alpha version of the firmware, with working M17 but still without settings' persistence, within two weeks: it all depends on how much time it's going to take working on the radio part, which implies a lot of reverse engineering of the CoValue firmware (and this takes really a lot of time). After this, I'll move on implementing the persistence, codeplug system and the remaining parts.

M17 Data Modes

I have not been able to be continuously engaged with the m17-users email list that I created, but my co-conspirators there have been keeping things interesting, such as this interesting post by Tony Langdon:

M17 uses 4FSK modulation at 4800 baud (9600 bps). Last I knew, there were 3 modes defined:
Full rate voice (Codec2 3200). This is currently by far the most dominant format. However there’s still room for some ancillary data like GNSS position. I believe this is a streaming mode.
Half rate mixed voice/data (Codec2 1600 plus a data channel). Kind of like D-STAR’s original mode. I’m not sure if this one is still officially defined.
Packet mode. This is M17’s data only mode.
Another interesting fact is M17 over KISS has been defined, which allows M17 frames to be sent to a TNC and transmitted. Obviously the TNC has to support 4FSK for the resulting transmission to actually be M17. The TNC4 is able to do this.
It’s also possible to use packet mode to run AX.25 over M17.

This… is really cool. M17’s data capabilities are something that I intend to dive deeply into. My thanks to Tony for explaining this so clearly - in my previous readings of the M17 Specification, I had not been able to find that level of detail / explanation about doing data over M17.

Arduino Digital Transceiver (ADX) Buildathon

Email from Clifford Heath VK2CLF:

You asked for Australian info. Manly Warringah Radio Society (VK2MB) is building the ADX (Arduino Digital Transceiver) and today was a big build day with the first units on-air. It's all documented on the club website:

Image courtesy of the Manly-Warringah Radio Society
It all started with very good lecture by Richard Hinsley VK2ARH/W5ARH on the ADX (the Arduino Digital Transceiver) in April 2024 followed by an email to all from Michael VK2MDP asking around about interest for a club buildathon, very quickly the list of interested members grew to 28 people wishing to grab a kit, many to attend the 2 buildathon sessions, others either not local, not available or just wanted the challenge to try it on their own.
The ADX Buildathon workshop dates were:
Wed 26-Jun-2024 – 7:30pm to 9:30pm Winding toroids for the low pass filters.
Sat 29-Jun-2024 – 9:00am to 5pm ADX Build and Testing … and mandatory BBQ.

This buildathon of the ADX (link, I think…) by the Manly-Warringah Radio Society (Terrey Hills ~~Allambie Heights~~, New South Wales, Australia) is well-documented with many photographs of folks obviously having a good time with their builds, elbow to elbow.

TX Factor - Episode 31 (TXF031) - Bluetooth Radio and QO-100 Ground Station

Email from Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Jeff Davis KE9V:

I was just watching the latest edition of TX-Factor that was out new yesterday (TXF031). It includes the 2nd half of the QO-100 groundstation, but perhaps even more ZR relevant was as review of the new Anytone BT01 bluetooth “microphone” for the Anytone 578 DMR transceiver. The video can explain much better than I can type it up but basically, it's a useful accessory that permits the mobile style radio to have remote access (via BT) which works well since that transceiver doesn't have a detachable head.

I can see where this would be very useful and I imagine a lot of ZR readers are into DMR.

I jumped into this a video on KE9V’s recommendation and it’s pretty engaging. The Anytone BT-01 is a pretty cool item, which I first wrote about in Zero Retries 0065. It’s just one of several Bluetooth “remotes” for Amateur Radio units, and it would be cool if someone was able to reverse engineer the Bluetooth protocol and create an open source equivalent. Also, the Anytone 578 is also capable of FM, so if the BT-01 is a major usability improvement, and you don’t have any DMR repeaters in range (or don’t care for DMR operation), it might still be worth investing in an Anytone 578. The last part of the video is also pretty engaging, operating on the QO-100 geostationary Amateur Radio payload accessible from most of the Eastern Hemisphere using the DXPatrol Full Duplex Groundstation V2.0.

ELEKITSORPARTS - the Most Zero Retries Interesting Amateur Radio Retailer

A correspondent [in the US] remarked recently:

Sometimes I wish I lived in Europe ... everything good in the ham radio world is “over” there now, not here.

I replied with a link to ELEKITSORPARTS, which I’ve been a fan of since they became the first to offer a plug and play New Packet Radio unit. Their unique product mix for Amateur Radio exemplifies what my correspondent was saying. I have no idea where ELEKITSORPARTS is located in Europe; I’ve never been able to find a clue on their website.

ELEKITSORPARTS keeps featuring new Zero Retries Interesting units, most recently the New digiPi HAT. Just as an example, here are some Zero Retries Interesting radio options:

ELEKITSORPARTS is pretty close to my ideal of a 21st century Amateur Radio retailer. If we could combine that with a Raspberry Pi retailer for one shop stopping for computer and radio hardware… that would be fantastic.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0002 - Chris Osburn KD7DVD (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0003 - Don Rotolo N2IRZ (Renewed 2024)
Founding Member 0004 - William Arcand W1WRA
Founding Member 0005 - Ben Kuhn KU0HN
Founding Member 0006 - Todd Willey KQ4FID
Founding Member 0007 - Merik Karman VK2MKZ
Founding Member 0008 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 14
Founding Member 0009 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 19
Numerous Annual and Monthly subscribers who also generously support Zero Retries financially!

Want to Support Zero Retries?

The most effective way to support Zero Retries is to simply mention Zero Retries to your co-conspirators that are also interested in knowing more about technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio and encourage them to become a fellow subscriber.
One particularly effective method of promoting Zero Retries is to add a mention of Zero Retries to your QRZ page (or other web presence) and include a link:
https://www.zeroretries.org

If you’d like to financially support Zero Retries, becoming a paid subscriber is greatly appreciated and helps offset expenses incurred in publishing Zero Retries. Paid subscriptions for Zero Retries are entirely optional, as explained in this special issue of ZR:
Zero Retries Administrivia - Activating Payment Options.

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories that often feature “Zero Retires Interesting” topics.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Ham Radio Workbench by George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU (and friends)
Foundations of Amateur Radio by Onno Benschop VK6FLAB

Zero Retries is currently using the Substack email publishing platform to publish Zero Retries. It’s particularly suitable for small newsletters as you can get started for no cost.

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More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-07-05

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to republish an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Zero Retries 0158

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

28 June 2024 at 22:30

Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. Now in its third year of publication, with 1800+ subscribers. Radios are computers - with antennas!

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0158

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Rick Gilmore W3TM for becoming an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week! He included this nice message:

I learn something new in every post. And learning is what this grand hobby is about, IMHO.

My thanks to Eric Stammers M0REQ for becoming an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 34 for becoming an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries!

Major Conference Countdowns

HAM RADIO 2024 in Friedrichshafen, Germany on 2024-06-28 thru 30 - this weekend. I’ve received some hints that there will be some interesting projects shown there. Zero Retries readers that will be attending HAM RADIO 2024, please provide some reports of Zero Retries Interesting projects and products.
JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 8 weeks!

See the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences for other such events.

Zero Retries Correspondents Wanted - Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, etc.

Of necessity, most of what I report as Zero Retries Interesting here in Zero Retries is US-centric, with occasional contributions from Zero Retries readers, and occasional stories about ZRI developments in Europe (such as QO-100) and Japan. I’d really like to cover more frequently the Zero Retries Interesting developments occurring in countries with active Amateur Radio technical activities - data communications, satellite / space, creation of interesting, specialized Amateur Radio hardware, etc.

I’m not asking for folks to write an article. While I feature co-authors whenever I’m offered articles, I understand that writing an article is daunting to most folks in this era. The more usual circumstance these days is for folks to get in touch with me and point out something that’s Zero Retries Interesting. I take it from there, with credit to the correspondent (if they want). To keep Zero Retries interesting and relevant, I need folks like you Zero Retries readers to tell me what’s going on - point me to local clubs doing Zero Retries Interesting things, data networks, technical activities, etc.

Please don’t take offense if I don’t feature your info (there are times when there are just too many items to include), or that I’ve previously mentioned your info in a previous issue of Zero Retries. It’s better to be over-informed than under-informed. If I really miss something significant, please remind me.

The countries listed in the headline are my biggest “mystery countries” at the moment, with practically no visibility about Zero Retries Interesting Amateur Radio activities there.

I hope Zero Retries readers can help. If I get at least a few volunteers, I’ll set up an email list for “Zero Retries Contributors” where we can be in touch with each other instead of purely private correspondence with me (though that is, of course, an option if you’d prefer).

Google NotebookLM

Speaking of “previously mentioned your info in a previous issue of Zero Retries”, there are times that I forget what I’ve covered. It’s also painful at times to find when I’ve mentioned something in a previous issue of Zero Retries. Substack’s search tool has become ineffective because it now defaults to also searching other Substack publications… and items in Zero Retries are already obscure and hard to search for.

But citing previous articles is a significant part of Zero Retries and with three years of weekly issues, it’s getting ponderous to do manual searches. To help with that I’ve experimented with pouring a subset of text versions of Zero Retries into a single file so I can do faster searches. That didn’t go well.

But a fellow writer, of much longer standing and much greater stature than I experienced the same frustrations, and his public plaints on the matter were heard. A few years ago Steven Johnson was invited to join the team that created Google’s new NotebookLM. That sounds like that’s exactly the tool that I’ve been hoping for. My “Zero Retries Notebook” in Notebook LM will be restricted entirely to the content I put into each notebook. All I have to do is to finish exporting all three years of Zero Retries into PDF versions, which unfortunately is a semi-manual process because of the odd ways Substack creates its web pages, I usually have to fuss with the creation of the PDF to get it to turn our right. If I “respected” Substack’s warnings about “too large for email” then I could have shortcut this process by exporting just the email versions of Zero Retries, but oh well.

I’ve become wary of investing my efforts in Google projects… because Google has, in my opinion (and others) become actively predatory, and because Google has become infamous for its many Killed by Google projects. But I haven’t seen a better alternative than NotebookLM for my specific requirements for Zero Retries, and Johnson is a trusted name in non-fiction writing and he’s putting his name behind NotebookLM. Plus, having created the PDF library, my data will be secure and under my control, and it’s all public anyway, in the likely event that Google decides to “overshare” my Zero Retries Notebook in .

With those factors, a Zero Retries NotebookLM seems worth a try. A bonus will be that I can do limited sharing of the Zero Retries NotebookLM, and since the sharing is limited, that may end up being a perk of Zero Retries paid subscribers.

Just to stretch your imagination a bit, NotebookLM can be used with any collection of PDFs. Given that 73 Magazine is already in PDF form, that might be my next NotebookLM project.

Guilty of Optimism

As I put the finishing touches on this issue Friday morning, I had an email exchange about politics with an old friend, and they accused me of optimism (as in the opposite of realism)… and I replied that I wear the epithet of “Optimist” with pride.

It’s easy to be pessimistic about the future of Amateur Radio. It’s an activity that was begun in the early years of the previous century and in this modern society of wristwatches having their own cellular radios, light bulbs having a TCP/IP stack and a Wi-Fi radio, and mobile phones now having direct-to-satellite connectivity… it’s easy to think of Amateur Radio as an anachronism. The “realistic” point of view about Amateur Radio is that it is inevitably declining - in licensees, in relevance to society, in innovation, etc.

But from my “optimism” perspective, I believe that Amateur Radio has a role to play in the 21st century as our society has transitioned wholly to radio technology for the last miles, last few feet, and last few inches our electronic communications. Just as the previous century required vast numbers of those skilled in working with internal combustion engines, this century will require vast numbers of those who understand radio technology beyond the simple act of plugging in a Wi-Fi access point or using a mobile phone.

Amateur Radio is a perfect vehicle for developing such knowledge and skills and Zero Retries is a testament to that perspective and my optimism about Amateur Radio.

Happy Independence Day

To Zero Retries readers in the US, Happy Independence Day this coming Thursday. Despite our vast shortcomings as a nation and as a people, we continue to struggle to continually create a “more perfect union” for 248 years now. Despite sometimes vastly different perspectives between us, we collectively continue to try to make ourselves better as a nation and as a people. For my part, I consider myself blessed beyond all reason to have been born in the US and thus a US citizen with no effort on my part. Many wonderful friends of mine were not similarly blessed. That they chose to work very hard and sacrifice much to become citizens of this incredibly imperfect nation tells me that the US is at least doing some things right.

73,

Steve N8GNJ

Two Projects for Making Amateur Radio Open Source Software Easier to Find and Use

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

One of the most significant issues in Open Source development in Amateur Radio is the creation of multiple, sometimes incompatible implementations of various applications or functions that are made available as open source software (or hardware) … somewhere… (often somewhere obscure, such as a personal blog or website). Various implementations of the AX.25 stack for use with Linux comes readily to mind as an example of this issue. Two recent projects should start helping to make various Open Source Software much more visible so that there is less “reinvention” needed, and thus more (defacto) standardization and interoperability.

Radio Catalog: Ham Radio Software Preservation and Restoration

Ham software is becoming increasingly hard to find. Decades worth of development person-years are at risk of being lost.
I've noticed a lack of best practices for managing the open source software projects that many hams have built and rely on over the past couple decades. It's understandable given that these were often hobby projects, but it would be a shame to lose some of the great contributions to our community. As many of these hams are getting older or become silent keys it becomes increasingly difficult to locate many of the original source files for these projects. This is often due to these sources no longer being hosted on their original sites, entire domains being taken offline, link rot, or for a number of other reasons.
I propose building a software catalog to aggregate many of these long-standing, open source ham software projects into history preserving code repositories using git, a modern source control management system and the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (DLARC) archive. These code repositories would also serve as a place for continuous future development and iteration. I'm a software engineer in my day job and it's something I would be very interested in helping put in place. I believe it would go a long way to making these projects remain accessible and relevant across our ham community going forward.
List of 10 software projects for preservation:
ardopc - mode for HF Winlink
QtSoundModem - multi-platform port of UZ7HO's SoundModem
arim - Amateur Radio Instant Messaging
rmsgw - Linux RMS Gateway for Winlink
ax25mail - Utilities for packet radio mail exchange with the BBS
4NEC2 - Antenna Simulation and modeling software
LinFBB - F6FBB BBS software for bulletins and messages distribution via Packet Radio and wired networks
OpenBCM - packet radio mailbox system by DL8MBT
Linpac - A modular console-oriented amateur radio AX.25 keyboard to keyboard chat and PBBS program
Paclink-unix - A UNIX/Linux client for the Winlink 2000 ham radio email

(Excerpts of the grant proposal used with permission of Rob Hernandez KM6BLU.)

While ARDC has not made this (approved) grant public, I received permission from the principal of this grant, Rob Hernandez KM6BLU to mention this project in Zero Retries.

~~At present, there is not yet an online presence for this work as their grant was only recently approved and KM6BLU and his collaborators are just getting the work organized.~~

Update 2024-06-30 - At present, there is not yet an online presence for this work as their grant was only recently approved and KM6BLU and his collaborators - Paul Harvey M0SET and Matthew Croughan are just getting the work organized with their fiscal sponsor - National Upcycled Computing Collective (https://www.nuccinc.org).

Although this team’s initial software projects to preserve is a good start1, there are many such open source projects that are equally critical and influential within Amateur Radio, and thus the methodology, standards, display format, etc. that KM6BLU and team will develop for this work will be probably more foundational for Amateur Radio in the long term.

I’ll be watching this work and am looking forward to reporting on this project in future issues of Zero Retries.

Open Source in Amateur Radio Wiki

Michael Clemens DK1MI / N1BSD on Reddit r/amateurradio:

[OpenSource.radio] is a wiki, which in the first step categorises and lists all open source software and hardware projects for amateur radio that I/we know of. Later, more detailed pages on the individual projects will be added. I also envisage adding setup descriptions for open source based amateur radio stations or collections for GNU Radio blocks/flowcharts or Node Red flows, functions and scripts.

Open Source in Amateur Radio

Image courtesy of OpenSource.radio
Welcome to the Open Source in Amateur Radio wiki! This resource is dedicated to providing information about open-source software and hardware as well as free home-brew projects for amateur radio enthusiasts. The idea of this website or wiki is to give a (future) radio amateur an overview of all available open source projects. The aim is to promote the use of open source software and hardware in amateur radio. Depending on personal requirements, it is now possible to set up an amateur radio station whose main components are open source.

The OpenSource.radio Wiki (clever domain name!) is also a recent project which has a similar goal (at least in my mind) of creating a directory of Amateur Radio Open Source projects (notably, not just software) and thus would also serve the goal of reducing the creation of multiple, sometimes incompatible implementations of various applications or functions that are made available as open source. In short, why reinvent something if someone has already done it? The trick, prior to this project, is knowing that a specific open source project even exists; it’s tough to search for an open source implementation if you don’t know if such a project exists, and especially its name.

OpenSource.radio is off to a good start, and I plan to get involved in adding to it with some of my favorite open source projects such as adding to the Packet Radio section.

The current nine contributors could use some additional help:

Help!
This wiki cannot be filled and maintained by one person alone, which is why I call on people to register on the wiki in order to correct errors, add information, translate articles and/or create new content.

Please visit How to contribute for further information.

I’m sure there are many able contributors in the Zero Retries readership.

Wikipedia - List of Amateur Radio Software

Lastly, this Wikipedia article seems to be a poorly maintained or abandoned list of some software used in Amateur Radio. While there are a few mentions of proprietary software, most items seem to be open source software.

While this article is within the semi-authoritative easy to find Wikipedia… the OpenSource.radio Wiki seems to be the better project for contributing one’s efforts to document the many open source projects within Amateur Radio that have been developed over the decades. We’re just going to have to figure out how to insure its survival as an information database - at a minimum, regularly “snapshotted” by Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine and perhaps regular mirroring to other sites.

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

Darryl Smith VK2TDS Highlighted in ARDC Newsletter

ARDC Newsletter June 2024 (not yet posted on their website):

A member of the inaugural [Grants Evaluation Team - GET], Darryl has enjoyed analyzing the results of the work that ARDC has funded, stating “I feel privileged to be a part of the team.” Licensed in Sydney, Australia more than 30 years ago, Darryl became a ham to experiment with packet radio and has “loved every minute of it.” After many years of focusing on VHF, Darryl got his first HF radio early last year. When he’s not volunteering at ARDC or on the air, Daryl is a consultant electrical engineer, where he had the amazing opportunity to work as a microwave and satellite engineer & RF technician on the set of Furiosa - A Mad Max Saga, work he cites as the work he’s most proud of. In his spare time, Darryl also enjoys recreational running, where he averages running about one marathon a year.

VK2TDS is also beginning his 8th three-year term as a Board Member of TAPR.

I’m looking forward to seeing Furiosa when it’s available on one of my streaming services, especially now knowing that VK2TDS was working on the complicated communications required for that movie.

Digital only POTA Activation using FT8 on the sBitx V3

David Saylors WK4DS on his WK4DS Amateur Radio Blog:

So today was a good day for radio. I had a block of time and wanted to see how hard it would be to get the activation only on FT8. I know it is possible to do this, but I also wanted to do it on 15 meters too and that is where the problems come in. You see the last couple of weeks have been tough for 15 meters operations what with the solar flares and CMEs and all. So to secure the activation on the higher bands will be… interesting…
…
Image courtesy of David Saylors WK4DS
One of the things that I like most about this radio is the clean layout of the FT8 mode. It is not cluttered with an endless array of different information and on screen settings. The other programs, while very versatile and powerful, are rife with buttons and information that really is not needed for simple QSO contacts. The sBitx could be a little easier though so it is not perfect either. One thing that has come up a couple of times is that it needs the ability to be able to sort the information display to just stations calling CQ so you can pick one easier. I agree with this as it can be tough to grab a calling station in that 2.5 second window of time. So being able to sort by CQ would be a big help there. One other thing that is mildly frustrating is that there is no way to scroll the display so if there is a lot of stations on the band then you will not be able to see them all. It pushes them off the top of the screen and then they are just gone.

What WK4DS did as a Parks On The Air (POTA) activation with a data-only radio (in his case, the sBitx v3), is pretty much what I was imagining for a data-only Field Day activity. Based on a Raspberry Pi, the sBitx v3 seems so elegantly designed for data use. I didn’t know what exactly I was looking for until I saw it with the sBitx v3, which is now on my wish list… unless perhaps the zBitx becomes a reality.

My thanks to Amateur Radio Weekly Issue 336 for the pointer to this story.

ARDC Grantees Include Society of Women Engineers (SWE) 2023 Programs

I thought this post from ARDC about the impact of their grantmaking was Zero Retries Interesting:

Society of Women Engineers (SWE): SWE 2023 Programs
Image courtesy of Society of Women Engineers
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an organization that promotes diversity and inclusion in STEM fields. In 2023, ARDC funded 30 of SWE’s Global Scholarships, as well as contributed to multiple programs that help women in engineering fields excel professionally and showcase their achievements. Last month, SWE published a blog post that included testimonials from scholarship recipients, emphasizing the significance of ARDC-funded scholarships on their educational pursuits. You can check out the blog post in its entirety at https://alltogether.swe.org/2024/05/the-impact-of-the-ardc-foundations-scholarships-for-women-in-engineering/.
ARDC also supported a first-time analysis into the impact of SWE scholarships on women pursuing a STEM degree. The results of this analysis can be found at https://swe.org/research/2024/the-impact-of-swe-scholarships-on-retention-in-engineering-and-computer-science/.
Funding also supported the SWENext High School Leadership Academy. You can check out a year in review of the SHLA program in this blog post: https://alltogether.swe.org/2024/06/fy24-shla-year-in-review/.
The Community Collegiate Affiliate Support & Expansion (CCASE) is designed to encourage more women in community colleges, particularly those facing exceptional financial challenges and from underrepresented backgrounds, to pursue a STEM degree. In its first program year, CCASE helped establish seven new community college affiliates/sections and added 81 SWE members.

Pull quote of the study that ARDC supported:

Research indicates that women pursuing bachelor’s degrees in STEM switch to non-STEM fields at higher rates than men, with 32% of women major switching compared to 26% of men. Overall, less than half of women persist in their bachelor’s degree programs in STEM.

…

The impact of a SWE scholarship is remarkable! Almost 88% of undergraduate scholarship recipients have either earned or are still pursuing a STEM degree, with 97% of these STEM students majoring in engineering or computer science.

That result is fantastic! Note that Amateur Radio isn’t mentioned, and there’s no Amateur Radio involvement in the SWE scholarships (you don’t have to be an Amateur Radio Operator)… but I cannot imagine that those scholarship recipients didn’t take note that an organization called Amateur Radio Digital Communications helped to fund their STEM degree.

Followup on Fixing the Linux Kernel AX.25 ARDC Grant

Grant: Fixing the Linux kernel AX.25
Date: December 2021
Amount: €179,690
Changes to the Linux kernel over the years have improved and modernized the kernel, but have also made existing AX.25 implementations incompatible and turned preexisting issues into bugs. This can make systems unpredictable or even unusable. Linux kernel development is complex, requiring deep specialized knowledge, and bugs are hard to trace. This may be one of the reasons, why the Linux kernel AX.25 stack is currently in such a bad state.
This ARDC grant funds will allow the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club to hire software developers who can create a stable Linux AX.25 implementation and prevent Linux distributions from dropping pre-compiled AX.25 support. The fixed and functional Kernel-AX.25 stack will improve global amateur radio infrastructure. Professional kernel development can bring Linux AX.25 back to life.

It’s a shame that ARDC rarely issues status reports on how grants like this turned out. ARDC formed a Grants Evaluation Team (GET) in 2024, but to date, there have been no results from that team publicly disclosed.

Now, two and a half years after this grant was awarded, we get a small glimpse of the outcome of this grant from a brief statement on ARDC’s 44Net email list by ARDC Grants Manager Chelsea Párraga KF0FVJ:

The AX.25 team ran into some challenging circumstances and they were unable to carry out the grant. In these situations we work with the grantee to return funds to us. If you'd like to know more about the project I suggest reaching out directly to those working on it!

Of course, the above description is all that ARDC has publicly released about this grant, and thus there is no contact information for “those working on it” provided by ARDC for us to to actually be able “reach out directly”. Since there was no progress on this grant, there seems little point in further followup. But given that unless ARDC chooses to feature a grant in one of their stories, which usually includes names of those involved with the grant, ARDC doesn’t otherwise disclose details about their grants such as the names and contact info associated with the grant… so that it actually is possible to “reach out directly”.

Such lack of detail when ARDC does report a grant being made, and lack of followup (publicly reported) on most of the ARDC grants, even years later, has been a continuing frustration to those of us following ARDC’s grantmaking.

BBS and email for Meshtastic

TheCommsChannel / TC2-BBS-mesh on Github:

This is the TC²-BBS system integrated with Meshtastic devices. The system allows for message handling, bulletin boards, mail systems, and a channel directory.

YouTube video - BBS and Mail for Meshtastic! (queued for future watching), unfortunately no transcript available to excerpt.

As an active participant in the rise of Packet Radio systems in Amateur Radio, it’s fascinating to me to see the rapid evolution of Meshtastic and seemingly exponential interest in building out Meshtastic networks as a hobby activity. Now Meshtastic users will be able to discover the fun and utility of Bulletin Board Systems.

While Meshtastic does feature better physical layer technology (Semtech’s proprietary LoRa, an implementation of Chirp Spread Spectrum) versus Amateur Radio’s 1200 bps Audio Frequency Shift Keying, Meshtastic users will soon discover the limits of simple radio physics - crowded channels, low throughput, and the limitations of ad-hoc mesh networks when they become popular and over-used.

We experienced Amateur Radio Operators could, and I would argue should get involved with our local Meshtastic activities and offer our perspective of what has worked in the past, at least to the limits of what the LoRa technology is capable of.

And perhaps, as we “tap into” the energy and excitement of these new Meshtastic users and networks, we can rediscover some energy and excitement that we can apply to recreating what we know now to work in Amateur Radio networking. Things such as leveraging the vastly better technology we now have available - higher speed modems, forward error correction, more robust modulation techniques, etc. And… rediscovering the fun of building something collaboratively with our fellow Amateur Radio Operators.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT
Founding Member 0001 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 01
Founding Member 0002 - Chris Osburn KD7DVD
Founding Member 0003 - Don Rotolo N2IRZ
Founding Member 0004 - William Arcand W1WRA
Founding Member 0005 - Ben Kuhn KU0HN
Founding Member 0006 - Todd Willey KQ4FID
Founding Member 0007 - Merik Karman VK2MKZ
Founding Member 0008 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 14
Founding Member 0009 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 19
Numerous Annual and Monthly subscribers who also generously support Zero Retries financially!

Want to Support Zero Retries?

The most effective way to support Zero Retries is to simply mention Zero Retries to your co-conspirators that are also interested in knowing more about technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio and encourage them to become a fellow subscriber.
One particularly effective method of promoting Zero Retries is to add a mention of Zero Retries to your QRZ page (or other web presence) and include a link:
https://www.zeroretries.org

If you’d like to financially support Zero Retries, becoming a paid subscriber is greatly appreciated and helps offset expenses incurred in publishing Zero Retries. Paid subscriptions for Zero Retries are entirely optional, as explained in this special issue of ZR:
Zero Retries Administrivia - Activating Payment Options.

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories that often feature “Zero Retires Interesting” topics.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Ham Radio Workbench by George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU (and friends)
Foundations of Amateur Radio by Onno Benschop VK6FLAB

Zero Retries is currently using the Substack email publishing platform to publish Zero Retries. It’s particularly suitable for small newsletters as you can get started for no cost.

If you’re reading this issue on the web and you’d like to see Zero Retries in your email Inbox every Friday afternoon, just click below to join 1800+ other subscribers:

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Social Media:

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Email issues of Zero Retries are “instrumented” by Substack to gather basic statistics about opens, clicking links, etc.

More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-06-28

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to republish an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Footnotes for this Issue

To that list, I would have included KA9Q NET, KA9Q NOS, ka9q-radio, Dire Wolf Software TNC, G8BPQ BBS and other G8BPQ utilities, Xastir, D-RATS, FreeDV, FreeDATA, and JNOS.

Zero Retries 0157

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

21 June 2024 at 22:30

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0157

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Scott Honaker N7SS for becoming an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

HAM RADIO 2024 in Friedrichshafen, Germany on 2024-06-28 thru 30 - next weekend. I’ve received some hints that there will be some interesting projects shown there. Zero Retries readers that will be attending HAM RADIO 2024, please provide some reports of Zero Retries Interesting projects and products.
JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 9 weeks!

Attendees at HAM RADIO 2024 might also be interested in attending the 10th Software Defined Radio Academy on 2024-06-29:

The programme for the 10th Software Defined Radio Academy (June 29) in Friedrichshafen is ready. Because of possible short notice changes please check the following website:
https://2024.sdra.io/pages/programme.html
We have assembled an attractive programme again for this anniversary year and we are looking forward to see you all either on site in Friedrichshafen or in the live stream. The SDRA starts at 10:00 in the room “Berlin” in the Conference Zone East. For HAMRADIO visitors there is no entrance fee, and visiting individual talks is just perfectly fine. You can find the stream at:
https://youtube.sdra.io

BR / VY73
Markus
DL8RDS

My thanks to Alexander von Obert DL4NO for forwarding this notice.

See the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences for other such events.

Minor Case of Summer Doldrums

This week I had a minor case of the summer doldrums where I didn’t get a lot done (that’s of measurable progress), either on Zero Retries and its associated projects, or in N8GNJ Labs. Thus the bulk of the content of this issue will be ZR > BEACON short mentions.

I guess I just “soaked in” the first full week of mostly sun and no rain and only brief cloudy overcast, and it took this week for my psyche to switch fully over to “enjoy the summer” mode. Up here in the Pacific Northwest corner of North America, we’ve been spared (thus far) the punishing “heat dome” that is enveloping much of the US, and for that, we’re grateful.

ARRL Field Day This Weekend

This weekend is ARRL Field Day in the US. I have no plans to attend any of the festivities in my area, mostly from lack of enthusiasm for the overall experience.

At the last ARRL Field Day event I attended, a friend had an Icom IC-705 and it seemed an idea rig for (my idea of) a casual Field Day experience. I had hoped by now to have procured an IC-705, and if I did have one, that would probably motivate me to get on the HF bands for Field Day.

Instead I think I’ll treat this weekend as an Amateur Radio holiday and work solely on some long-deferred Amateur Radio projects in N8GNJ Labs.

ARDC 44Net VPN Beta Testing - I’m In!

After a few “nudges” regarding my request to participate in the 44Net VPN Beta Test, I finally received acknowledgement that my request had been accepted and some basic instructions on how to get started. I haven’t done anything quite yet, but I will do the requested actions this coming week and start actively learning about how to use 44Net IPv4 addresses. One of the first things I’m going to do is to set up an “air gapped” LAN within N8GNJ Labs with a dedicated computer. I’ll report on my progress here in Zero Retries.

Battle of Britain: The Race for Radar - Highly Recommended!

I’m a very casual history fan, and lately my interests have been focused on the World War II era.

On Prime Video, I discovered Battle of Britain: The Race for Radar, and it was fascinating - extremely Zero Retries Interesting!

I was aware that the only way that the UK was able to effectively defend themselves against the German Luftwaffe bombing campaign (The Battle of Britain) in 1940 was to build “The Dowding System” - a RADAR and Command and Control network that directed the limited UK fighter groups towards the highest concentration / greatest threats of Luftwaffe bombers. But I knew nothing of the technical details of the RADAR system, which was named Chain Home. This documentary explained the technical details including that Chain Home barely worked at first, and was, by design, “third rate” - not the best technical solution, but a system that would be at least minimally effective and most importantly could be constructed in time to be ready when it would be needed most.

One of the most interesting technical details to me was that all of the transmitters in the system transmitted continuously and in phase with each other, transmitting 25 pulses per second. The synchronization system chosen was the simple expedient of using the national power grid’s synchronized 50 Hz (cycles, then) AC line frequency to synchronize the RADAR transmitters, and it worked!

Another detail that was interesting to me was that the Germans were aware of the very powerful transmissions from the Chain Home, but never understood how it functioned. The Germans eventually concluded that the transmissions were spurious leakage from the UK national power grid, and thus discounted the idea that the UK had a terrestrial RADAR system.

The documentary makes a compelling case that the creation of Chain Home and The Dowding System was a primary influence in the outcome of World War II. If the UK had not been able to repel the majority of Luftwaffe bombers, German bombing may have reduced the UK’s defensive capabilities and made Germany’s “Operation Sea Lion”, the seaborne invasion of the UK, viable. If the UK was successfully invaded by Germany, the US would not have been able to use the UK as a staging base for Operation Overlord, the Allies invasion of France and into Europe.

I’m certainly not positing that my ancestral fellow radio techies “won World War II”… but after viewing this documentary, we radio techies were very active participants in contributing to the Allies victory in World War II… and we’re present in current battles, and will be present in future battles.

73,

Steve N8GNJ

Just In Time for Meadow Day Anniversary - Starlink Mini

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

One year ago, on the same weekend as ARRL Field Day, I conducted my “Meadow Day” test of using Starlink as (simulated) emergency communications, similar to the premise of ARRL Field Day. One year later, we’ll soon have a better alternative to “fixed Starlink” for real emergency communications - Starlink Mini.

Background on “Meadow Day” 2023 - https://www.n8gnj.org/2023/06/meadow-day-2023.html

Meadow Day 2023 was conducted with a bulky “Gen 2” Starlink antenna and router. Those units are intended for permanent fixed installation to provide service to a typical household, but somewhat usable for “luggable” use with a suitable (mains-equivalent) power supply. I made it work, and Starlink now offers units intended for mobile use such as affixing it horizontally to the roof of a boat or a recreational vehicle or a semi tractor.

But now there is another variant of Starlink that’s far more conducive to my “Meadow Day” scenario - Starlink Mini.

All this information about Starlink Mini comes from a great (new to me) Zero Retries Interesting website and YouTube channel - StarlinkHardware.

StarlinkHardware.com is an unofficial resource for SpaceX Starlink satellite internet users. We are not affiliated with Starlink or SpaceX in any way.
Founded in 2021, our goal is to provide helpful information, tutorials, and advice for Starlink users. We are Starlink fans and users, and aim to help others get the most out of the system.

The most obvious aspect of the Starlink Mini is that it’s smaller - roughly the size of a laptop, as shown above.

Beyond the smaller size, Starlink Mini is optimized for portable use, including:

Lightweight - under 3 pounds,
Integrated Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5 standard) (no separate Wi-Fi router / power supply),
DC power input, 12-48 volts DC. There will be apparently be an optional “USB-C to Barrel Jack Cable Accessory”, thus you apparently can use battery units provide a USB-C power outlet.
Lower power consumption; 25 - 40 watts.

Starlink Mini also seems usable for fixed (or mobile) use by including a number of features that could have been omitted for “cost optimization”, including ability to mount on a pipe (pipe mount is included), an Ethernet port, and most surprisingly, the heating element to be able to melt snow or ice buildup.

Like the current (Gen 3) Starlink Standard unit, optimum performance of the Starlink Mini will depend on the user orienting it optimally per the Starlink app on a mobile phone.

One of the most notable features of Starlink Mini is (as “reportably” as an Elon Musk “tweet” can be) that Starlink Mini will sell at “half” the price as a Starlink Standard unit - $300 versus $600, though there was a recent price drop of the latter to $499, so perhaps Starlink Mini might be priced at $250.

This week, Starlink has done a “dribbling release” of details about Starlink Mini, as well-documented by StarlinkHardware:

In the US, some existing Starlink customers are receiving invitations to purchase the Starlink Mini hardware for $599 (yes, that’s $100 more than the “full size, full service unit), with a service plan of $30 / month for up to 100 Mbps download speeds and 50 GB of transfer. That service plan is in addition to an existing Starlink service contract.

Starlink explains this rationale in the Support section of their website:

Currently, the purchase of Starlink Mini is limited to a small group of customers in the US and is invitation only. We are unable to accommodate order requests from customers who did not receive an invitation.
Starlink Mini will expand to other markets over time. However, we do not have estimated dates to provide at this time. Stay tuned for updates on the wider release of Starlink Mini!
Our goal is to reduce the price of Starlink, especially for those around the world where connectivity has been unaffordable or completely unavailable. But in regions with high usage, where Starlink Mini places additional demand on the satellite network, we are offering a limited number of the Starlink Mini Kits to start for $599.

This makes sense… those who accept this offer can get a more portable Starlink unit when they are traveling, and Starlink gets to “beta test” the unit with customers who are willing to pay full price, without sacrificing profit margins from existing service plans. The selective invitations won’t add to Starlink service being already at (or past) capacity in certain parts of the US, such as the major metro areas of California.

There was also a mention that the latency of Starlink can be lower than than cable Internet, which I can easily believe given the vagaries I experienced with Comcast on our neighborhood’s 20-30 year old coaxial infrastructure. Glancing at my Starlink status panel as I compose this article…

LATENCY: Min: 20 ms * Max 115 ms * Last 27 ms

It’s pure speculation on my part, but Starlink Mini will open up entirely new use cases for Starlink such as remote monitoring. Imagine monitoring a power substation, including live video (and even live infrared video to see hotspots developing in the equipment).

It’s also speculation that Starlink Mini is optimized so well that organizations involved with emergency communications (in the US, such as Red Cross and Salvation Army) will be able to hand over a backpack or rugged (“Pelican”) case to volunteers to deploy to a remote area that has lost communications. Or a search and rescue operation in a remote area. The package will include a Starlink Mini, perhaps a mag mount for temporary installation on a vehicle roof, lots of various cables, a battery unit good for several days of operation, perhaps even a ruggedized solar panel, and a phone or two that has apps preinstalled for voice comms, telephony-over-Wi-Fi, video, assessment survey apps, email, etc.

The most disruptive aspect of Starlink that many observers simply don’t understand, because we’ve never had such a communications system previously, is that each square mile, per hertz, per second, per satellite that isn’t fully utilized is additional potential for revenue for Starlink. Each Starlink satellite in the constellation is “paid up” by each satellite’s time providing service to customers (US, Canada, Western Europe, etc.) who can pay higher prices for Starlink service. Thus if there are places that cannot afford that price point in the orbital path of each satellite, Starlink can sell a lower-cost, but still-attractive service package and capture additional revenue from each satellite.

I’ll further speculate that Starlink Mini will eventually become a full product in the US for a price point of $300, with a service plan of no more than $50 / month for up to 100 Mbps download and 50 GB of transfer, and probably allow mobile and marine use as it’s simply easier to accommodate a smaller antenna on a vehicle. I’ll guess that long term, Starlink will add other service tiers and allow Starlink Mini to be turned on and off for camping season, skiing season, beach season, etc.

As for Amateur Radio… once Starlink Mini is a full product, I’ll leave it to readers to imagine a future for Amateur Radio emergency communications versus such a capability.

Preview - Building Back Better Amateur Radio Networks

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

I didn’t make as much progress on this article this week as I’d hoped, but I did write enough to justify a “preview” of the full article that I hope to complete in the next couple of weeks.

…

I’m seeing increasing numbers of Amateur Radio radio networks. We’ve never had better radio network building blocks for groups of Amateur Radio Operators to experiment with, learn on, and have fun with.

My inspiration for this article was that apparently I hit some mental threshold of seeing yet another casual mention of yet another Amateur Radio radio network, and realized with a startle that such activity has become so ubiquitous, and perhaps so subtle, that most of us “don’t see the forest for the trees”.

For Amateur Radio Operators from my generation of Amateur Radio - first active in the 1980s when extended packet radio (and Packet Radio Bulletin Board System forwarding), active and growing Amateur Radio radio networks were the norm, and constantly growing and improving.

Then… the general public was able to use the Internet through dialup connections, and Packet Radio and Packet Radio BBS use looked primitive by comparison.

Despite many / most packet radio and BBS networks falling into disuse, many Amateur Radio radio networks never went away. And, many new Amateur Radio networks have quietly come into being, but not widely recognized outside their area.

What has changed between “the Internet happened” and now is that TCP/IP became the for networking, and it has become the defacto method to bridge disparate Amateur Radio networks. In the packet radio era, it was a heavy lift for the typical devices such as TNCs to be able to interoperate with TCP/IP - convert the TNC to a KISS TNC, set up KA9Q NOS on a DOS PC, etc.

But in this era, we have $35 computers with ample memory, compute power, and especially ample Input / Output to function as a router. For example, JNOS can route between AX.25 packet radio connections (which know nothing of TCP/IP) and an “advanced” TCP/IP network such as New Packet Radio.

Amateur Radio now has a plethora of networking tools… and networks, many that are operating entirely independently. Thus what remains is to highlight and recognize those local and regional networks and perhaps bridge them into an integrated whole of networking to be usable as “ARNet”. I use this name to differentiate from AMPRNet which is a registered domain name (.org) that is used by Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC).

In the full version of this article, I’ll discuss various Amateur Radio radio networking technologies and a few networks that I know of, so Zero Retries readers can begin to see the same individual “trees” in the “forest” of Amateur Radio network capabilities, that I have been seeing for a while now.

TX Factor Episode 30 - To space and back - TX date 7th June 2024

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

Career Days Makes Debut at HAM [RADIO 2024]

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2434 for 2024-06-21:

PAUL/ANCHOR: For our final story we visit the international Ham Radio exhibition in Friedrichshafen [Freed-Ricks-Harf-Ven], Germany, which will have its doors open between the 28th and 30th of June. This year's event has found a way to combine the amateur with the professional - and Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us how.
JEREMY: Employers in technical fields and prospective job candidates will have a chance to meet up for the first time this year in Friedrichshafen to see who is hiring and who is hunting. According to the organisers' website, the job marketplace recognises that hams are ideal candidates for employment in technical fields and their amateur skills fit well in a professional environment. Career days will be held for two days - the 28th and 29th of June.
Visitors can now have a lot more to look forward to than a fancy new state-of-the art rig: They will perhaps find a new way to afford it.
This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

Hmmm… glad to see that phonetic explanation of Friedrichshafen - I’d always heard it pronounced Freed-Rick-Stoff-Ven - Thanks Amateur Radio Newsline!

Waxing nostalgic a bit, I remember when US employers looking for technical personnel to hire would have “we’re looking for help” booths at Hamvention. I haven’t seen that in the last several Hamventions that I’ve been able to attend. Kudos for HAM RADIO 2024 for arranging this, and those employers that are recruiting will find a plethora of good candidates that are self-motivated to educate themselves about current and future radio technology.

Digirig Lite Rev. 1.2

[Digirig Lite is] a minimalistic version of Digirig with the same audio [codec] as regular model of the interface but without serial port.
Combines audio codec and PTT switch
Supports PTT by GPIO3 of CM108 audio codec
Supports VOX PTT by the tone on the unused right channel (experimental)
Works with all major OS flavors: Windows, MacOS and Linux
Uses a single TRRS connector compatible with existing Digirig audio cables
Growing collection of pre-made cables including popular Icom, Yaesu, Elecraft, Baofeng, Xiegu transceivers
Isolation can be easily added using inexpensive USB isolator dongle
The new revision of Digirig Lite got its enclosure, cable form factor with USB-C tail and USB-A adapter included. Other changes include added indicators for power and PTT, significantly improved PTT by tone/VOX. Solder pads for individually disabling PTT by GPIO3 and VOX. Pad easy access to codec’s GPIO lines used for COS and CTCSS.

Digirig, and especially Digirig Lite Rev. 1.2 is just an elegant, well-integrated piece of hardware!

Status of the Connect Systems M17 Project - 2024-06-19

Connect Systems email list:

The two production radios have shipped to the developers as promised late last month. The status of those radios are shown below. The production radios are now ready to be modified and shipped to the customers who have already bought the radios. I will generate another email blast when I have a more definite date on shipping to the customers who have already bought the radio.
If you are in Europe and going to the Ham Convention, you should see the production radios in operation.
[2024-06-14]
RX works, TX needs some more adjustment because the transmitted signal is distorted. I need to investigate further where the problem is.
[2024-06-18]
Hardware modifications are good to go, both TX and RX work and the transmitted audio is loud.
I just want to see if changing a resistor on the baseband path improves a bit the modulation quality, but is not a mandatory change.

Sounds like we’re very close to having portable radios with native M17 capability!

ARDC is Hiring: Technology Department Manager

ARDC seeks an experienced Technology Department Manager to join our team and lead all technology efforts. These include, but are not limited to, overseeing the following department initiatives and personnel management:
Activities of 44Net, and IPv4 address space allocated to amateur radio;
Open-source software development projects; and
General internal IT system administration, including streamlining existing systems and helpdesk.
In addition to having solid management experience in a technical field, this person must also be an excellent communicator – able to write policy, wrangle volunteers, and manage open-source technology development that includes staff, volunteers, and contractors. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated the ability to effectively communicate with executive-level management on a regular basis. It is expected you will prepare management reports and complex technical documents that are well written, appropriately and effectively organized, accurate, and comprehensive, meeting all professional standards.
Direct reports to this position include technical contractors and staff; the department is also supported by communications and operational staff, and 60-70 volunteers are working in association with our technical activities. This position reports to the Executive Director.
Some important notes about this role:
Experience and history with amateur radio and the Internet is required. Many of the people we work with, projects we take on, and communities we make grants to are rooted in amateur radio, and our particular realm of focus intersects heavily with the information technology and hacker communities. Applicants without an active amateur radio license will not be considered.
Experience working with nonprofits and/or open-source technology projects is required. There are nuances of working in nonprofit and community-driven environments, including participation in open-source technology projects, that can only be learned through experience – such as collaborative decision-making and best practices in engaging with open-source development. Experience in one or both of these areas is required for this role; applicants without such experience will not be considered.

This is a challenging position, requiring equal parts managerial, networking, and general software / technical skill. From my time volunteering on the ARDC Grants Advisory Committee, I witnessed that ARDC’s “technology stack” is… let’s just say varied… and in need of improvement. And, the position entails considerable cat-herding, judging from the discussions on the various ARDC mailing lists.

Zero Retries readers, please pass the word about this position. With the numerous specialized requirements for this position, ARDC will have to cast a very wide net to find the right person. ARDC is critical to the future of Amateur Radio, and this position is critical to the future of ARDC.

VarAC V9.2.3

From the VarAC mailing list. These are the two most salient features (to me).

Chat Recall
Have you ever found yourself reconnecting with someone only to ask the same questions again? You know you've chatted before; you see their basic details on screen, but the specifics escape you. That's where Chat Recall steps in.
Upon connection, your data stream seamlessly incorporates previous correspondences with this contact. Just like in WhatsApp, where even after a year, you can effortlessly revisit past chats to refresh your memory.
DCD Bypass
By default, VarAC respects the busy indicator and prevents you from transmitting in any way while the BUSY indicator is lit. This means no CQs, beacons, broadcasts, or connections.
However, sometimes constant noise, such as an OTH radar or deliberate QRM, can block the frequency.
Version 9.2.3 allows you to temporarily override the DCD detector and ignore the BUSY indicator. You can enable this by checking the box on the right side of the VarAC console. VarAC will automatically turn it off after 2 hours.
Starting with VarAC V9.2.3, the send broadcast form includes a checkbox to request an SNR report in your broadcast. This signals the recipient to send you a report back automatically.
Please note that this feature is only available when sending a broadcast to a specific station. You can't request a report from "ALL".

QO-100 Satellite Ground Station Complete Build

Mike Tatum M0AWS on his blog:

I get quite a few emails from readers of my blog asking how my QO-100 satellite station is put together and so, I thought perhaps now is a good time to put together an article detailing the complete build.
My QO-100 satellite ground station is built around my little Icom IC-705 QRP transceiver, it’s a great little rig and is ideal for the purpose of driving a 2.4Ghz transverter/up-converter.
Of course all the software used for the project is Opensource and freely available on the internet.
The station comprises of the following building blocks:
Icom IC-705 Transceiver
DXPatrol 28/144/433Mhz to 2.4Ghz Up-Converter
DXPatrol GPSDO Reference Oscillator
DXPatrol 2.4Ghz 5/12w Amplifier
Nolle Engineering 2.2 turn 2.4Ghz IceCone Helix Antenna
1.1m (110cm) Off-set Dish
Bullseye 10Ghz LNB
Bias-T to feed 12v to LNB
NooElec SmartSDR Receiver
PC Running Kubuntu Linux Operating System
GQRX SDR Opensource Software
Griffin Powermate USB VFO Knob
QO-100 Ground Station Dashboard developed using Node-RED
LMR400-UF/RG58 Coax Cable

This is a great article with ample detail, but if you’re a US reader, like me, it’ll make you itch to have a similar capability to QO-100 in the Western Hemisphere.

My thanks to Amateur Radio Weekly Issue 334 for the pointer to this story.

Related, also mentioned in ARW Issue 334:

Bob G0FGX demonstrates the Groundstation 2 from DX Patrol in the first of a two-part feature on operating via the QO-100 geostationary satellite. He looks at the hardware and software needed to achieve your first QSO at home or out mobile.

Foundations of Amateur Radio Episode 010 - Do Your Thing and Find Friends to Play With

Today in Amateur Radio is no different from yesterday, last year, last decade or longer. The hobby today is filled with people who are here to have fun, learn stuff and experiment. This hasn't changed since our hobby came into being.
You can argue that the hobby has seen a great many changes. We have seen spark-gap transmitters, valves, transistors, miniaturisation, chips and now software defined radios. The experimental nature of our pursuit has not changed.
We still spend time looking for cool stuff to do and people to do it with.
And that's the single point I'd like to make.
Finding people “to do it with”.
If you're a new amateur you might look to a club or your fellow classmates to combine your efforts. This can be a great way to forge life-long friendships and it's a sure fire way to find exposure to other ideas and activities.
There might come a time when you find yourself at a loss what to do next, or who to do it with. You might lament that the group you're hanging out with are not doing fun stuff anymore, or that activities never quite happen or any number of observations that make it less fun to be part of amateur radio.
I've now been here for a little while and I've noticed that some of my fellow amateurs have fallen by the way-side. Of course family and changing interests will account for some of that, but often it's a lack of something to do that makes people fade away.
There is nothing stopping you from organising your own event. You can plan a camp-out, or an antenna testing day, or a DX activity, a contest, an activation, some software hacking, or hardware building, soldering training, learning how to log, how to do a QSO, or any number of other things.
If you tell the community about it, you're likely to be surprised by some other amateur who was just thinking to do the same thing.
So, don't wait for someone else to do your fun activity. If you focus on doing things that you enjoy, you might find a few like-minded friends who will participate.
I'm keen to hear your ideas and activities, so drop me a line.
I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Good advice, which has direct bearing my (lack of) enthusiasm for participating in (conventional) ARRL Field Day activities. Perhaps for Field Day 2025 I can find some kindred Zero Retries Interesting folks in Western Washington (or the Pacific Northwest region) that would also be interested in a data-modes-only ARRL Field Day.

I’ve been meaning to mention the excellent Foundations of Amateur Radio podcast by Onno Benschop VK6FLAB in Zero Retries for some time now. To date, VK6FLAB has created 470 weekly (?) episodes. I enjoy FoAR because a number of episode topics are Zero Retries Interesting, but also because FoAR is a “solo” podcast with an accompanying transcription / script. That’s a podcast model that is very similar to what I plan to do for Zero Retries. FoAR’s model of discussing a single, distilled topic is far more workable than attempting to discuss the variety of topics that I mention in a typical issue of Zero Retries.

… the transcript of the weekly 'Foundations of Amateur Radio' podcast, produced by Onno Benschop, VK6FLAB who was licensed as radio amateur in Perth, Western Australia in 2010. For other episodes, visit http://vk6flab.com/. Feel free to get in touch directly via email: cq@vk6flab.com.

Each week / episode, VK6FLAB publishes the script / transcript via an email list, and thus it’s easy, and time-efficient to determine if a FoAR episode is “Zero Retries Interesting” and thus worth queuing up for my limited “audio time”. (I’m a far faster reader than a listener, so I now read the text each week.) Yes, in reading the text, I get the basic information, but as listeners pointed out in my podcast experiments, audio adds more depth than what mere text can convey.

I wish more Amateur Radio podcasts could do the same thing as FoAR; many Amateur Radio podcasts that are potentially Zero Retries Interesting don’t bother to publish show notes (and apparently aren’t popular enough to have Apple Podcast apps create an automatic transcript), so I tend to not queue those up unless the title hints of a Zero Retries Interesting topic.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
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More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-06-21

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In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to republish an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Zero Retries 0156

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

14 June 2024 at 22:30

Radios Are Computers - With Antennas!

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0156

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 33 for becoming a Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

HAM RADIO 2024 in Friedrichshafen, Germany on 2024-06-28 thru 30, in 02 weeks!
JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 10 weeks!

…

Zero Retries readers in the Portland, Oregon USA area might be interested in attending the Teardown 2024 conference which will be 2024-06-21 through 23 at the Lloyd Center (Mall). Teardown 2024 is sponsored by Crowd Supply, which has crowdfunded a number of Zero Retries Interesting radio technology projects. There are a few Zero Retries Interesting talks on the schedule such as:

Open-Source Wireless Sensor Network
Unleashing the Power of uSDR: Native Apps, Web Platforms, and Beyond with M.2 SDR
Affordable, Portable, Orbital Desktop Satellite Tracker
Wireless Hacking on a $5 Budget (with Microcontrollers)
Radio Direction Finding with a KrakenSDR (I think this one would be worth the price of the entire conference).

See other events at the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences.

New Logo for Zero Retries!

Graphic of stylized radio tower with the words Zero Retries — New logo of Zero Retries!

My wonderful wife Tina Stroh KD7WSF created a new logo for Zero Retries to replace the generic satellite dish icon I had been using. Thanks Honey! There will be more “logo” news in the next issue of Zero Retries.

Thought Experiment - A Zero Retries Semi-Official Gathering (ZR SOG)

It’s been a favorite thought experiment of mine since beginning Zero Retries to have an in-person meetup of Zero Retries readers… somehow. But considering how thinly we are dispersed around the world, I haven’t thought of any good ideas other than choosing a restaurant and evening to do an information meetup in conjunction with a major event like Hamvention. I got this idea from the TAPR informal meetup that was formerly held at a restaurant called (I think…) McNasty’s (BBQ) where the talk was “all packet radio” (which, of course, I loved being part of). It looks like McNasty’s restaurant has tranmongrified into a food truck. Hmmm, perhaps lure the McNasty’s food truck to a convenient spot near Hamvention?

The other inspiration for the ZR SOG was the originator (at least, the first time I heard the phrase) was that the SOG was a “conference” (though that crowd would cringe to hear such a formalized description) held for the readers of Micro Cornucopia magazine, such as SOG III described in the October 1984 issue of Micro-C. I miss Micro-C just from wonderful writing by Micro-C’s Editor / Publisher David Thompson, such as this:

New Blood
As for attracting new people to Bend [Oregon, USA] (my secret motive, remember?) it looks like I may have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Several individuals and one good size company have either said they are definitely coming (and are presently pouring over multiple-listing books) or are definitely interested in locating here and are exploring ways to do it.
Interestingly enough, it appears that the wives are often the prime motivation in the moving decision. There is something about Bend with its open fields, horse ranches, forests, wilderness areas, and skiing that makes family raising a reasonable (if not genuinely fun) preoccupation. You could think of it as taking on a long-term application project in a really good systems environment.
…
Financial Hard Times
Some folks tried to get their companies to reimburse their expenses but when they passed around our flyer with Semi-Official Get-together on it, their managers didn't feel the event was serious enough. These poor souls suggested we change the name to Super Official Gathering (not to be confused with Superficial Gathering). Maybe next year we'll have two brochures — an official one (for expense accounts) and an unofficial one (for fun).

“Superficial Gathering” had me chuckling. Apparently Thompson’s “New Blood” plan worked. Per this web page, Bend’s population in 1984 was ~70k, and currently it’s ~210k. In comparison, Bellingham, Washington where I now live was likely < 50k in 1984 and is currently ~92k - a bit less cosmopolitan than Bend… and attracting more techies all the time - just sayin’.

But, I digress…

Independent of an in-person SOG, in Fall 2024 (let’s not waste too much Summer sitting indoors in front of a computer), I’ll start conducting regular videoconferencing meetings at least monthly. Since they may well be too popular to be conducive to useful discussion, I’ll be capping ZR videoconferences at a “not to exceed” number, and early invitations will go out to the paid subscribers and selected folks like guest authors and Zero Retries Interesting folks that are working on Zero Retries Interesting projects.

On both the ZR SOG and the videoconferences, I welcome ideas from Zero Retries subscribers.

Full-to-Burstin’, This Issue Is!

I have two systems to bookmark items I want to include in Zero Retries. There was so much content this week that I included a handful from one bookmark system, and deferred another article. It’s a nice problem to have, but there’s only so much room in a weekly issue of Zero Retries. I’m imagining ways to incorporate a “Just the Links” with a very terse description, similar to Amateur Radio Weekly, perhaps even a separate issue of Zero Retries that would be available to paid subscribers a week earlier. Nothing has been decided yet, but I welcome ideas from Zero Retries subscribers.

Amateur Radio is Dying… Right?

At least that’s what the Gloom & Doom faction in Amateur Radio is telling us. The total number of US Amateur Radio Operators is decreasing. We’ve recently lost CQ and MFJ. Lots of folks have said they’re not going to renew their ARRL membership because of the dues increase or Logbook of the World having been hacked. Many… most VHF / UHF Amateur Radio repeaters are deathly quiet for 99% of the day. Most HF activity now seems to be FT8, not “real” contacts. New Amateur Radio Operators pass the Tech test, buy an inexpensive portable radio and say “Now what? Where’s all the excitement?”. The most interesting Amateur Radio content is on YouTube. Some “served agencies” are saying to Amateur Radio operators who try to offer emergency communications “Thanks, but we’re good with Starlink, satphones, and FirstNET”. Etc. Ad nauseam.

The Amateur Radio Publishing Industrial Complex posits that the solution is to join them (for a small annual fee) and then you get instantly into the mainstream of Amateur Radio. Their flagship publication devotes an entire section to reprinting content from the middle of the previous century (including ads)… half a century before the current generation was born. Long time Amateur Radio Operators would have you think that the solution is learn how to solder and build your own rig (using tubes) and put up a massive tower and HF beam antenna for the “Real Amateur Radio” experience. Etc. Ad nauseam.

But, what if that’s not the whole story about Amateur Radio in the 21st century?

Amateur Radio is changing - no question about that. But my observation is that such changes are a normal shift resulting from the priorities of a new generation along with better (and cheaper) technology as Amateur Radio is redefined by this generation and new technologies. Half a century ago, this was one of the generational challenges confronting Amateur Radio (per 73 Magazine’s Wayne Green W2NSD in the 1974-01 issue):

NEW BAND AVAILABLE
As the last few holdouts on two meter AM move on up to the FM end of the band the lower two MHz is developing into a wasteland. Experience has shown us that as soon as anything like this has remained unused for a short while there are vultures just waiting to swoop down ... a la the CB proposal for amputation of the 220 MHz ham band, starting first with the top MHz.
Unless some way is found to get Walker to back down on his firm resolve to limit repeaters to the top two MHz and no more, the repeater channels will inexorably grow more and more crowded and the rest of the band more and more deserted.
Obviously something will have to be done about this.

In this generation of Amateur Radio, a lot of new radios are mostly software, with minimal hardware, built around a powerful processor. (I’ve encapsulated this profound change in a phrase: Radios are computers - with antennas!) The current generation of Amateur Radio Operators are Internet natives, which means (among other things) that they grew up with ubiquitous text messaging and social media, so data modes “via radio” (like FT8) and one-to-many text communications are the norm for them. A lot of Amateur Radio now involves Internet connectivity, which is no more a problem for the current generation than “depending on grid power” was for previous generations.

I created Zero Retries in 2021 because the perspective of the Gloom & Doom faction’s perspective isn’t the whole story of Amateur Radio in the 21st century. Each week in Zero Retries I try to present a variety of stories about the technological innovation that is happening in Amateur Radio… that you’ll likely never hear about (at least, substantively) in the “mainstream” Amateur Radio media… or from the Gloom & Doom faction.

I’m glad to have you 1800+ Zero Retries subscribers along for this wild ride of Amateur Radio in the 21st century.

73,

Steve N8GNJ

The Innovator’s Dilemma Applied to Amateur Radio Industry

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Some thoughts on how the lessons of “The Innovator’s Dilemma” apply to the Amateur Radio industry. ReadyKilowatt’s comment below initiated this article.

ReadyKilowatt commenting on Zero Retries 0155 (excerpt):

At this point I think it might be time to fork radio. Instead of continuing to adapt commercial band equipment to amateur use, maybe it's time to come up with reference designs that are specific to amateur use. Radios that run Linux or Android under the hood. That can be configured and controlled through a web browser (if my $20 light switch can do it, why can't my $800 radio?), and can run 25KHz bandwidth (or 6MHz, or whatever I dial up). DMR et al are interesting, but there's no shortage of bandwidth in the amateur bands, so why are we acting like there is (spare me the “no open repeater pairs” argument, how many inactive repeaters still hang on to “their” frequency)? DMR solved a problem we didn't have, and required bodging a fix that doesn't fit into the amateur ethos of VFO and direct operator control. But at least the radios are cheap and can be programmed to police repeaters!
Sorry to be such a downer. Maybe I'm the one who's wrong. But I think we've refined enough. Time to add a few modern features.

I replied at length with a counter-comment. See the link above for my response there, some of which became the basis for this article.

The book The Innovator’s Dilemma had a profound influence on me when I read it within the first year or so after it was published in 1997. It helped me make sense of seeing successful companies with seemingly unassailable, successful products, go down to ruin. Two examples that are front-of-mind to me were Research In Motion (RIM) the creator of the Blackberry personal messager / mobile phone, and Sun Microsystems. In hindsight of their failures, you could see their corporate hubris, and The Innovator’s Dilemma finally explained (at least, to my satisfaction), the thought processes that were behind such failures.

Wikipedia offers a reasonable capsule description:

The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, first published in 1997, is the best-known work of the Harvard professor and businessman Clayton Christensen. It expands on the concept of disruptive technologies, a term he coined in a 1995 article "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave".1 It describes how large incumbent companies lose market share by listening to their customers and providing what appears to be the highest-value products, but new companies that serve low-value customers with poorly developed technology can improve that technology incrementally until it is good enough to quickly take market share from established business. Christensen recommends that large companies maintain small, nimble divisions that attempt to replicate this phenomenon internally to avoid being blindsided and overtaken by startup competitors.

I think those seminal lessons also apply to the Amateur Radio industry, and we will see disruptive technology have a profound effect on most of the currently successful companies and organizations in Amateur Radio by the end of this decade.

With the understanding of “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, I am seeing disruptive technology subtly undermining the foundations of successful companies in Amateur Radio such as Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu, and Elecraft2, all of who make expensive HF radios with lots of knobs, but allow little or no customization by users. Companies and organizations within, or adjacent to Amateur Radio are also being disrupted such as:

SCS, creator of PACTOR 4 is being disrupted by VARA HF.
DVSI (CODEC voice chips used in DMR, D-Star, System Fusion, P25) is being disrupted by Codec 2.
AMSAT’s satellite construction activity is being disrupted by companies that can provide turnkey “from design to orbit” microsats to any organization (even as small as a local Amateur Radio club who can do an adequate fundraiser) who can pay their reasonable fees. AMSAT is also being disrupted of their requirement of paying a membership fee to view their publication AMSAT Journal by those who are generating enthusiasm for satellite operations without a membership fee such as YouTube creators, SatNOGS, and TinyGS.
ARRL is especially poised to be disrupted as its primary income from publishing books on paper, a paywalled magazine, and increasingly high membership dues render it uncompetitive with YouTube channels and free, publicly accessible digital publications such as the Surrey Amateur Radio Communications (club)’s Communicator Newsletterzine (usually more than 100 pages).
“Traditional” APRS (1200 bps AFSK AX.25 on 144.39 MHz) is increasingly being disrupted by new interpretations of APRS such as APRS on HF using VARA HF, APRS using LoRa, Communication And Telemetry System (CATS), etc. while the APRS Foundation is still struggling to offer more than a placeholder website and vague ideas of future directions for the organization.

Some of the “disruptive technology” that is affecting Amateur Radio:

Changing demographic of new Amateur Radio Operators who trend to be more technically oriented, “space constrained” (apartments and condos, rather than suburban houses), interest in VHF / UHF rather than HF, interest in data modes rather than voice modes, less budget and time for hobbies, etc.
The Open Source model of publicly sharing software, hardware designs, protocols, standards, etc. The M17 Project is a good example of this, and of course, the plethora of Amateur Radio open source projects maintained on GitHub (simple search yields 1300 results).
Software Defined Radio technology. We’re now firmly in the era of “radios are computers - with antennas” such as the LimeSDR Mini 2.0 and CaribouLite RPi HAT.
Electronic manufacturers in China who are increasingly willing to do small production lots of custom hardware.
Virtual organizations organized around videoconferencing rather than local, in-person meetings such as Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee (RATPAC).
Increasing use of data communications modes such as FT8 and JS8Call in lieu of voice and CW (Morse Code) modes on the HF bands.
Rising radio noise on the HF bands primarily from cheap switching power supplies of which there are dozens in every household are increasingly rending analog modes on HF less usable.
Lack of usage of VHF / UHF repeaters except for scheduled nets and linked repeaters that create artificial activity. New Amateur Radio repeaters are put on the air every month, and are briefly popular, but then tend to lapse into silence as they realize that “build it and they will come” increasingly doesn’t work.
New Amateur Radio Operators are almost always Internet natives versus long time Amateur Radio Operators who spout “well, that’s not real Amateur Radio”.
New funding models for small, medium, and large scale Amateur Radio projects (don’t need to form a company, or sometimes even an organization if fiscal sponsors are used):
- Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) grants,
- Crowdfunding, either privately (such as KiwiSDR) or with assistance (such as KrakenSDR via Crowd Supply ).
- Costs of electronic production can be so low, such as inexpensive circuit boards, which allow individual micro businesses such as Halibut Electronics, digirig, and Mobilinkd to offer products directly to Amateur Radio Operators.
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Pattern Recognition on local hardware (not using data center / Internet resources) will inevitably play a profound role in Amateur Radio within a few years. Raspberry Pi now offers a Raspberry Pi AI kit for $85.
Cheap compute power such as the Raspberry Pi products of embedded microcontrollers and computers, all of which are incredibly well-supported with tailored Linux distributions, great documentation, and (now, resuming) ample distributon:
- Raspberry Pi Pico ($4 for a dual core processor), to
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W ($15 for quad core, 1 GHz, 64-bit processor, to
- Raspberry Pi 5 (arguably “desktop class” processing for $80).
The breadth of web-based information distribution, versus “exclusivity”. Basically, those who recognize that if your content or product isn’t easily, publicly accessible, it’s essentially irrelevant.
Constantly shifting social media; “old and tired” is Facebook, X, LinkedIn; “new, hip, and happening is TikTok, Reddit, and Discord.
Non Amateur Radio “radio” activity such as Meshtastic (messaging via mesh network), SatNOGS (receiving micro research satellite telemetry), Ribbit / Rattlegram (messaging over any radio using acoustic coupling), rising popularity of GMRS repeaters for casual chat and emergency communications.

Just as RIM and Sun Microsystems couldn’t / wouldn’t change their products, business models, and organizations to meet the oncoming disruptive technology (until it was too late), I don’t think the current successful Amateur Radio companies have the corporate courage to change their products, business models, and organizations to meet the above disruptive technology (and societal) trends occurring in Amateur Radio outlined above.

One prime example is one Japanese Amateur Radio manufacturer’s Only Invented In Japan focus on developing Amateur Radio products in Japan, by Japanese marketers and engineers, largely for the Japan market, and then lightly adapting them for other markets such as the US and Europe. An example of this… “Japan focus”… is that this Amateur Radio manufacturer hasn’t included the US 222-225 MHz band in any of their products developed over the last two decades.

There’s just nothing that can be done. No amount of external warnings, suggestions, recommendations, user feedback, etc. will budge them. Like RIM and Sun, they’re going to stay focused on what they think their current market is, and the largest profits are at this moment. If they do see the disruptive technology trends as discussed above coming at them, that’s a problem that can be deferred for “maybe next year”. The problem with that approach is, of course, there’s always going to be a higher priority next year.

Overall, I think that Amateur Radio will be OK, even if we lose major manufacturers from the Amateur Radio market. Amateur Radio has survived the loss of venerable and beloved manufacturers such as Hallicrafters, R. L. Drake, . E. F. Johnson, and mighty Collins. There will always be demand for innovative Amateur Radio products, and sophisticated Amateur Radio units, and increasingly those can be accomplished on a small scale with adapting to the new realities and capabilities of this era of Amateur Radio. FlexRadio was deliberately not included in the above examples of “likely to be disrupted” companies because in my opinion, FlexRadio is successfully adapting to the distruptive technology (and societal trends) such as being a truly software-defined radio, offering extensibility and customization by users, and a reasonable and sustainable product lineup. Another example of a “new generation” Amateur Radio unit and manufacturer is the Charly 25 HF radio by Smart Radio Concepts 3, based around a family of very powerful software defined transceiver boards (originally intended as a lab instrument) called the Red Pitaya.

Now we just need for a new manufacturer to become the “FlexRadio” of VHF / UHF radios. I keep hoping to see that soon.

Commentary on What Stalls Amateur Radio Development?

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Some personal commentary on the open letter by Wojciech Kaczmarski SP5WWP in Zero Retries 0155 - What Stalls Amateur Radio Development?

In his open letter, SP5WWP highlights some very real issues within Amateur Radio when we attempt to advance Amateur Radio technology. Such work can be taxing to the point where such work can grow the point where it isn’t sustainable solely with volunteer labor:

There is a big problem behind it though - volunteers can rarely be bound with any obligations or time constraints. This also means no one can have any expectations against volunteers. They can be distracted, their reliability and commitment can span from anything between extremely enthusiastic to hardly interested. It is understandable that people prioritize tasks in their lives - family and daily job is by far more important for most of us than hobby-related projects.

Just within Amateur Radio, this issue has been known for decades now. Some examples of ambitious Amateur Radio projects that ultimately weren’t successful because (in my opinion), volunteer labor wasn’t sufficient to complete such ambitious projects:

TAPR announced the TAPR packetRADIO in 1989… and that project went nowhere because Radio Frequency (RF) design is hard, and RF design expertise (especially for VHF / UHF) is a rare skillset, especially for volunteer projects. My memory is that TAPR simply could not find enough volunteer RF design expertise to create a stable, reproducible, reasonably priced radio.
It’s notable that in the same era, with the same project scope (a data radio for the Amateur Radio market), using professional labor, Kantronics created the D4-10 Data Radio for 420-450 MHz and the low power dvr 2-2 for 144-148 MHz. Similarly, MFJ was able to create low power data radios for 144-148 MHz and 220-225 MHz. Even more impressive was the Symek TRX2S and TRX4S radios which were synthesized, with 20 watts output power, and could do data speeds of 150 kbps+.
Hubmaster was a project in the 1990s to develop an Amateur Radio networking system that would operate at 256 kbps at 10 watts in the 902-928 MHz band. It was promising, and (if memory serves, there was some limited deployment, but ultimately it didn’t become a widely adopted system.
In Zero Retries 0000 - Story 3: The Radios That Weren’t; Part 1 I discussed the TAPR Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum Radio. Volunteer labor was sufficient to complete this project, but not on a fast-enough timeline; critical parts became obsolete over the course of the project. This happened twice before the project was canceled.
Also in Zero Retries 0000 - Story 4: The Radios That Weren’t; Part 2 I discussed UDRX-440 by Northwest Digital Radio (NWDR). There were prototypes of this radio developed, but for many reasons, the volunteer labor on the project just wasn’t able to complete the critical integration of software and hardware required for that project.
FaradayRF was an ambitious project / company to develop Faraday, a data radio that would operate in 902-928 MHz. For reasons unstated, FaradayRF just faded out, likely because of career pressures of the two founders.
The RPX-100 was yet another very promising, but ambitious project to create a Software Defined Transceiver for 50 / 144 / 440 MHz, and it also just faded out without creating a viable design (though they did leave behind some great technology, including an RF power amplifier for 50 / 144 / 440 MHz). Interestingly, this project was unique from the above projects in having received a significant grant from ARDC.

What has changed, and what SP5WWP doesn’t quite acknowledge in his open letter, is the existence of grants from ARDC now make it much more possible to create new radio technology and systems for Amateur Radio.

Disclaimer - What follows is mostly personal opinion and based on my (often flawed) memory and a bit of “insider knowledge” from my tenure (2021-2022) on the ARDC Grants Advisory Committee (GAC).
I have not been formally involved with ARDC since ending my tenure on the GAC at the end of 2022. ARDC does not speak for me, and I don’t speak for ARDC.
To the best of my knowledge, these points are not confidential, and as you’ll read, certainly not “secrets” given that paying for professional labor has been prominent in a number of ARDC grants.

Early in my tenure on the GAC, the issue of paying for professional engineering labor, such as developing new software and hardware, came up and was discussed. Some on the GAC felt that “this is Amateur Radio” and Amateur Radio projects should be done almost entirely on a volunteer basis, and ARDC grants should be used to pay for unusual “commercial” expenses such as fabrication of prototypes, test equipment, etc. Ultimately the GAC decided that it was acceptable for an ARDC grant to include payment for professional labor needed to successfully complete a project. Our reasoning was that building radio systems, especially for systems operating above 50 MHz, was a very specialized skillset and anyone with such a skillset was in high demand, with little “volunteer time” available for Amateur Radio projects. Similarly, software engineering for embedded processors and components such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) was a skillset that was similarly in demand, with little “volunteer time” available for Amateur Radio projects.

I believe that I explained my observations about the TAPR FHSS Radio, and the NWDR UDRX-440, and my conclusion that in this era… creating VHF / UHF radios, and other projects that required specialized skillsets, simply weren’t possible to accomplish without paying for professional labor.

The GAC, and ultimately the ARDC Board (during my tenure, the board approved, or vetoed, every grant request that the GAC approved) agreed with that perspective. Here are a few selected ARDC grants where paying for professional labor was an explicit part of the grant:

Open Research Institute ITAR and EAR Strategy (paid for professional legal labor)
NTPsec (paid for professional engineering labor)
Fixing the Linux kernel AX.25 (paid for hiring professional software developers)
Building the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (paid for hiring of a dedicated Archivist within Internet Archive)
GNU Radio Usability Enhancements (paid for hiring software defined radio experts)
A Low-Cost Open-Source Universal Radio Test Instrument (paid for hiring a commercial company, which supports Open Source principles)
M17 Project Popularization, Research and Development (discussed below)
Enhancing HF Digital Voice with FreeDV (paid for hiring professional digital signal processing developers)
ZUM Radio: Multimode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM) Project (paid for hiring of a full time software engineer)

There are many other ARDC grants where the hiring of professional labor was not explicitly stated, but can be inferred from the complexity of the project and / or the size of the grant, such as Improving a State-of-the-Art Free Software Telecommunication Network Stack for the HF Band.

What SP5WWP wasn’t entirely transparent about is that he is a beneficiary of ARDC’s willingness for its grants to pay for professional labor. For some period, SP5WWP has been working almost entirely on M17 and related projects such as the OpenHT and Remote Radio Unit) as part of the M17 Project Popularization, Research and Development grant.

Thus, I think that ARDC has already answered (in the affirmative) a least part of SP5WWP’s issue. Someone who wants to develop an Amateur Radio project / system / organization (conceivably) can receive payment to do such work. But, the caveat of doing so via an ARDC grant is that such work:

Must be done under the auspices of a qualifying fiscal sponsor such as a not-for-profit organization (in the US, a 501(c)(3) organization or an educational institution), and
The resulting work must be made publicly available (essentially, released as open source).

As I read SP5WWP’s open letter, what I perceive from it as the larger context, is that SP5WWP sees a need for a new kind of organization within Amateur Radio beyond fiscal sponsors - a “Research and Development” organization. If someone interested in Amateur Radio has a unique project in mind that could benefit Amateur Radio, they could apply to work on that project and be paid for that work. The R&D organization would handle the “administrivia” overhead of managing all the other aspects of the project such as working with vendors, managing the “community” that grows up around such a project, and conceivably continuing the project into availability, perhaps even commercial availability. This would allow the “project originator” to focus on the tasks that they are most capable of working on (and have the needed critical skills).

With that context in mind, here are some at least partial answers / opinions:

At least in name, Amateur Radio actually has such an organization - Amateur Radio Research and Development (AMRAD). AMRAD’s About page:
The purpose of AMRAD is to develop skills and knowledge in radio and electronic technology, advocate design of experimental equipment and techniques, promote basic and applied research, organize technical forums and symposiums, collect and disseminate technical information and provide repeaters.
I’ve been told that AMRAD is now largely inactive as several key members such have become Silent Keyboards. But, wouldn’t it be cool if AMRAD could be resurrected and reimagined to live up to its name?
If any Zero Retries readers are members of AMRAD, please get in touch - I’m curious about the fate of AMRAD.
I think that what SP5WWP would like to have is an Amateur Radio equivalent of Y Combinator, a highly specialized venture capital company that helps potential entrepreneurs build a company with unique forms of assistance and investments. In my opinion, such an organization wouldn’t be feasible in Amateur Radio as what makes Y Combinator’s model possible is a vastly larger potential market than the potential market of Amateur Radio… and vast potential profits. That said… perhaps there’s a role for quiet, personal Angel Investmenting. I’ve heard rumors of some Angel Investing in Amateur Radio projects; there are a lot of Amateur Radio Operators with significant wealth out there… but I can’t offer any specifics.
ARDC is not, and cannot (per its legal structure, or perhaps just because of its chosen policies) be such an organization. ARDC can only provide funding via individual grants, and perhaps grant extensions.
Perhaps ARDC grants could be used creatively to make projects that receive ARDC grants made commercially available. The ARDC grants for A Low-Cost Open-Source Universal Radio Test Instrument and ZUM Radio: Multimode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM) Project both involved commercial companies, but it wasn’t explained exactly how the “technology transfer” with those companies will ultimately work. My guess is that as long as the work that is paid for by the ARDC grant is made publicly available… the associated commercial company (or any commercial company, or individual, or organization) can make use of that work.
In previous decades, TAPR used to provide such a role. For example, TAPR would arrange for writing documentation, providing website support, mailing list support, development of kits, stockpiling parts, sales, after-sales support, etc. TAPR now seems to function mostly as a “sales” organization for smaller projects that are self-developed and self-managed. My impression is that you can no longer come to TAPR with an idea, get funding for the idea, and have support functions provided. Perhaps TAPR could be a fiscal sponsor for an ARDC grant, and TAPR could, through its fiscal sponsorship, arrange for “support functions”.
Perhaps… the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) might be at least a partial answer, per this article - Amateur radio research and development:
The RSGB, through its Legacy Fund, has provided funding for projects aimed at supporting innovation. Funding was provided for the ground-breaking work that Dr Martin Sach, G8KDF did on understanding the detailed characteristics of VDSL2, which must surely be the first step in building a method of digitally mitigating its impact on received signals. In the autumn, the RSGB Legacy Fund also subsidised a course organised by John Worsnop, G4BAO designed to encourage radio amateurs to experiment with GNU Radio Companion, and to teach others to do likewise. The Legacy Fund is always looking for proposals for innovative ideas that will advance amateur radio – if you have an idea, please email legacy.chairman@rsgb.org.uk
In Zero Retries 0079 (2022-12-30), the entire issue was a mostly fictional story about how Amateur Radio organizations might evolve in the near future - A Vision for Zero Retries Interesting Amateur Radio in 2029. Though I didn’t imagine a specific Research and Development organization for Amateur Radio, the (again, fictional) organization Amateur Radio Standards Organization (ARSO) would at least partially fulfill the role of Research and Development in Amateur Radio.

In conclusion, perhaps the most viable path that I think comes the closest to SP5WWP’s vision is to create a very small company and crowdfund a project. The example that comes to mind that is the closest to such an ideal is the very successful KrakenSDR project, which was crowdfunded (more than $1.5M to date) through Crowd Supply, by KrakenRF, Inc. I have no specific knowledge about the principals of KrakenRF, Inc. but in following the project from its announcement, my impression is that the KrakenSDR was developed by a small group of talented folks with an idea for a unique, compelling, and realistic product. KrakenRF, Inc. “put out their vision” via Crowd Supply, and the idea was well-received by enough folks to fund the project to the point of paying for development and production of the KrakenSDR. Unlike an ARDC grant, with crowdfunding there are no restrictions on how the funds could be used, only some due diligence (one would hope…) by Crowd Supply to verify that KrakenRF, Inc. was likely capable of creating this product per the crowdfunding proposal. The funds raised can then be used, in part, to pay for “administrivia” help so the developer(s) can focus on development.

Ultimately, in Amateur Radio, there’s currently no complete solution for developing technology, systems, or products for Amateur Radio and being paid to do so (without contributing one’s own funds, having investors (including bank loans), or obtaining grants. But, as explained in this article, it is possible to be paid to work on Amateur Radio projects.

https://www.analog.com/en/resources/technical-books/software-defined-radio-for-engineers.html

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

Ashhar Farhan VU2ESE Joins ARDC’s Board of Directors

The team at ARDC is pleased to announce that on March 26, 2024, Ashhar Farhan (VU2ESE), joined our Board of Directors.
Licensed initially at the age of 15 as VU2FAX and “fascinated with electronics as a child,” Farhan became interested in amateur radio after being “hooked” following a local club coming to his school to perform a ham radio demo. Following a hiatus, he returned to the hobby in 2002 and obtained his general grade license as VU2ESE. Active in the amateur radio community, Farhan is the founding Vice President of the Lamakaan Amateur Radio Club (LARC), which he and his friends established in 2012; for the past seven years, the club has hosted an annual convention each December. Through LARC’s collaboration with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, Farhan actively promotes both ham radio and electronics in the inner cities.
Farhan’s technical contributions to amateur radio have earned him inductions into both the QRP Amateur Radio Club International (QRPARCI) Hall of Fame (2016), and the CQ Ham Radio Hall of Fame (2018). An avid radio and test equipment builder and designer, he is well-known for the BITX, a beginner friendly buildable QRP transceiver that is ideal for operating on 20m and modifiable for operating on other ham bands. The BITX, along with additional buildable transceivers, are available through HF Signals, a company Farhan co-founded with the goal of inspiring people to be active in ham radio around the globe.
Throughout his career, Farhan has worked in the fields of Internet telephony, free software, and voice codecs. An entrepreneur, not only has Farhan founded HF Signals, he has also co-founded Lamakaan, a cultural center in Hyderabad, as well as Exseed Space (now Satellize), which specializes in building satellites: to date, they have launched two amateur radio-carrying satellites into space. In addition to founding the above companies, Farhan is an angel investor in various technology startups.
“I am excited that Farhan agreed to join our Board of Directors,” says ARDC President Bdale Garbee KB0G. “Well-known for his open ham radio transceiver and test equipment designs that enable and encourage learning and experimentation, he also brings a wealth of career experience, and expands our understanding of opportunities and needs to a new geographic region. I am confident that his contributions will be invaluable as we work to achieve our long-term goals.”
“One of the first radios I built early in my ham radio career was Farhan’s BITX 20,” says ARDC Board Member Ria Jairam, N2RJ. “It was from that moment onward that I realized that he was dedicated to making homebrew and open source radios accessible. Farhan’s ideals of experimentation, open source hardware and software align very well with ARDC’s mission. I’m proud that he has decided to join ARDC’s board and look forward to working with him as one of our colleagues to shape the future of open source ham radio.”
“I really and truly am delighted to have him on board,” says ARDC Executive Director Rosy Schechter KJ7RYV. “He’s already bringing a lot to the table, and I can see him playing a key and positive role in ARDC’s continual evolution.”

From my perspective, the addition of VU2ESE to the ARDC Board is not just Zero Retries Interesting, but also a very welcome development within ARDC! In my opinion, VU2ESE will add some (needed) technical depth to the ARDC board about radio hardware technology. He will also add some international perspective as the only ARDC board member not based in the US.

As I mentioned in Zero Retries 0155 - FDIM 2024 - zBitx - Bringing CW into the 21st Century by Asher Farhan VU2ESE, I am mightily impressed with VU2ESE’s grasp of what’s important in future Amateur Radio, including his choice to use a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W in the zBitx (future?) radio he discussed, and matter-of-fact inclusion of some data modes in a “QRP CW” radio. He also has a pragmatic perspective of what it takes to drive a project to successful completion via his company, HF Signals and I hope VU2ESE is able to imbue ARDC with that understanding in guiding ARDC’s future grantmaking.

Welcome to ARDC, VU2ESE!

ARDC Updates Policies Regarding 44Net Subdomains

Rosy Schechter KJ7RYV on the ARDC 44Net email list:

It’s been just over two months since we launched the new Portal. It came with, as you have seen, some major bumps. Today, ARDC is resolving, at least temporarily, one of those hurdles: administrative access to subdomains.

As of today, anyone who had a subdomain with ampr.org before the launch of the new Portal on April 3, 2024, will, for now, have full access to their DNS records. This includes subdomains that fall outside of our preferred format of callsign.ampr.org.

This administrative access still depends on call sign verification, which requires confirming given name, family name, email, and valid amateur radio license. This step helps us ensure that the network is being used by valid amateur radio operators. During our recent work, we’ve found several bad actors, which is both unfair to the community and a security risk.

We’ve also made a functional change to the portal: once a call sign is verified, you are now automatically able to create a subdomain with the format of callsign.ampr.org. All other new requests for subdomains that fall outside of that format (e.g., foo.ampr.org, which I’ll refer to as nonstandard subdomains for brevity) will require review and approval.
Please note that we will be limiting the number of nonstandard subdomains going forward. Thus, if you have one (or, in some cases, many more), please consider it temporary. You can currently create as many second-level subdomains as you want—e.g., foo.callsign.ampr.org, bar.callsign.ampr.org, etc.

We are working on a more official policy around subdomains using ampr.org. As promised at the recent regional coordinators' meeting, we will ensure you can see this policy before officially implementing it. We will also provide a transition period, likely many months, for users to edit their entries before official deprecation. This is, ultimately, what we should have done initially, and we take responsibility for not following a better process and, instead, rolling out this change without taking proper preparatory steps.

Some of you may be wondering why we are making this change in the first place. It is because, without doing so, we end up in our current and very unwieldy situation: a database of over 51,000 DNS entries, most without knowledge of who they belong to, accumulated over at least a decade, with very few entries currently in use. If we aim to increase the usage of 44Net, then we need a system where we understand ownership and are able to provide an efficient service where we can address problems as they arise.

For now, we hope that this helps to unblock anyone that currently feels blocked, while also providing an ample notice for changes that are coming down the pipeline at a later, though likely not-so-distant date.

Some long time 44Net users are upset with this policy “modernization”, but in my opinion, seeing it from the perspective of ARDC trying to manage 44Net for the future, and cleaning up some of the non-allowed usage that has crept in, these new policies seem reasonable. If you want a “cute” name for your 44Net address block, the cutename.callsign.ampr.org naming convention seems a reasonable compromise, and in other email discussions, apparently a cname can also be used.

Another issue that came up is when a 44Net address block is used by a club, and administered by someone who isn’t the trustee of the club callsign. Undoubtedly that corner case will be worked out in a reasonable fashion.

A minor issue is the legacy IP address assignments of individual Amateur Radio Operators (some of whom are now Silent Keyboards). For example, the Puget Sound Amateur Radio TCP/IP group had a number of IP address blocks assigned to our various data repeaters in the Seattle area. Those IP address assignments were never cleaned up when that network was shut down. I’m going to try to do my part and go onto the portal and release all my legacy IP address assignments from that era.

Kudos to the ARDC staff, contractors, and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAG) volunteers for apparently working their butts off to sort out all the issues resulting from modernizing 44Net (ticketing system, new policies, real documentation, the eventual 44Net VPN, etc.). With the role of Technical Director vacant, and the recent death of John Hays K7VE (who was highly involved and knowledgeable of 44Net), getting 44Net’s issues sorted seems to be an “all hands on deck” priority with ARDC - for the benefit of us Amateur Radio users of 44Net worldwide.

Technical Aid Group

From the 1974-01 issue of 73 Magazine

The Technical Aid Group is a group of hams who have indicated a willingness to share their knowledge and skills with others. They have volunteered to be of service to fellow hams and do so without compensation. If you have a technical question, look over the list to see who has competency in the area of your question. For many of the TAG members, descriptions of all areas of expertise would be lengthy, so an abbreviated description is given. When stating your problem, give as much information as possible and clearly state the difficulty. Enclose a SASE for reply.
For those hams who have a desire to share, the TAG is the thing for you. Send a brief note requesting the membership form, fill it in and send it back. It asks a few questions about your qualifications, and there is a check-list to indicate your fields of competence. These cover all modes currently used by hams, antenna design and theory, transmitter and receiver design for HF, VHF, and UHF, logic, ICs, general help, and other areas. As more members are added, their names and addresses will be published.

I stumbled onto this in researching one of the articles in this issue. Wow… what an idea… and how doable this could be, in this era, via a website!

We’ve kind of done this with email lists for various broad topics (like the various email lists mentioned in this issue), but there’s a lot of value in knowing unique (and searchable) knowledge and potential mentorship.

And, once again, this is an example of how invaluable the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (DLARC) is proving to be for Amateur Radio. Thank you Kay Savetz K6KJN, Internet Archive, and ARDC (for the grant that made DLARC possible).

FreeDV Running Natively on sBitx

Jonathan Bruno W2JON on the digitalvoice email list:

… I picked up an sBitx from HFSignals.com and fell in love with its open-source nature.
If you aren't familiar the sBitx is one of Ashhar Farhan, VU2ESE creations. Big brother to the uBitx, BITX20, BITX40, Antuino, and zBitx.
The sBitx is a hybrid SDR that runs on a Raspberry Pi4 its a hoot to work and play on.
Now, you can buy just the board and experiment but I went all in and picked up the completely assembled unit which comes in an aluminum case with the Raspi 7" capacitive touch screen.
The sBitx software has fldigi in the backend handling some heavy digital lifting and the wsjtx libs are baked into the control surface so the rig can even decode and log FT8 QSOs all in one small box with no additional hardware.
Well, with all that being said, the one thing I wanted to run on it, it couldn't run.. why? the screen is too darn small for the FreeDV GUI.. even with the GUI heavily crunched down it just wasn't useable.
I sat down and thought I wasn't willing to give up the idea of running FreeDV on the sBitx so I set out to write a control companion for the FreeDV codecs.
I'm not a developer by any stretch of the word I'm an infrastructure engineer, but I know enough to be a problem but somehow I got it pretty much working and fairly capable.
I call my abomination FreeDV_PTT [https://github.com/SigmazGFX/freedv_ptt] and If you have an sBitx please feel free to give it a whirl.
But one gotcha. This will only run on the 64bit upgraded OS. (no 32bit).

So now FreeDV has been implemented on a sBitx… but that can’t be done on a FlexRadio 6000 series? I guess the moral of this story is never overlook the capabilities of a motivated amateur (as in non-professional) software developer to make something work the way they want it to… and the power of user-extensible radio hardware. Kudos to both HF Signals for the extensible architecture of the sBitx and W2JON for this achievement.

And… yet another example that Radios are computers - with antennas!

Interesting (and Unusual) VHF / UHF Antenna Configuration

Stephen Smith WA8LMF on the VARA-MODEM email list:

In the late 1970s, I worked at Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At the time, repeaters were not ubiquitous as they are today. People routinely used 100-150-watt-plus amplifiers on 2M mobiles to work simplex 50-100 miles (80-160 Km) across the gently-rolling terrain of Iowa to fixed stations with 8-element or more beam antennas. One normally expected mobile flutter and rapid fade-outs/fade-ins as mobiles moved down Interstate-80 at 70 MPH / 110 KMh. I used two 8-element KLM beams vertically side-by-side fed in phase with a divider harness to produce vertical polarization.
I then tried mounting the two antennas one leaning 45 degrees to the left and the other 45 degs to the right (i.e. 90 degs apart) and fed them with a phasing harness with an extra 1/4-wave of coax on one leg. This creates circular polarization instead of planar vertical-only. The effects were spectacular - the mobile flutter and fading on long simplex paths totally disappeared! Note that you DON'T need to have CP antennas at both ends of the path - the normal vertical-only mobile whip at one end of the path will work as long as the other end of the path has a CP antenna.
I had the same experience with a two-meter repeater covering a narrow canyon road in Los Angeles. The narrow winding rocky-walled canyon road was a nightmare of multi-path phase distortion and rapid-fire fluttering when the repeater at the summit used the usual vertical gain antenna. I switched the repeater to a circular-polarized crossed-yagis antenna intended for satellite tracking pointed down into the canyon. Again, the results were night-and-day - the flutter and spattery audio phase distortion on mobiles in the canyon completely went away.

Imagine combining this technique with a “voting” receiver system now that highly capable, sensitive, and inexpensive Software Defined Receivers are available, not to mention the possibilities of Digital Voice (DV) techniques that incorporate Forward Error Correction (FEC). An interesting subtext is that WA8LMF made this discovery while working for a radio communications company… as an Amateur Radio Operator in his personal time. One can only imagine what cool innovations WA8LMF must have contributed within Collins Radio because of his hands-on experiences in Amateur Radio like this.

Two Books on Software Defined Radio

Joanne Dow W6MKU (I think…) on the SDR-Radio email list:

There is no “one book.” They all have different slants and designed audiences.
"SDR4Engineers" is not as deep as it sounds but deeper than you might like. It is heavily coupled to the [Analog Devices ADALM] Pluto. This is very much how it is done with the math.
"Software Defined Radio Handbook" by Roger Hosking is pretty much a Pentek ad with lots of diagrams. It shows you how the blocks are put together.
Both are free.

I found two likely links for the former:

https://archive.org/details/sdr-4-engineers/mode/2up

It was easy to find the latter with the author’s name:

https://www.pentek.com/sftradhandbook/SftRadHandbook.cfm

Thank you W6MKU!

Another Great “All Zero Retries Interesting” Issue of The Random Wire!

The Random Wire Newsletter issue 94 is so packed with Zero Retries Interesting items that I’ll have to re-read it several times to absorb it all. Recommended!

Kudos to Tom Salzer KJ7T!

Feedback Loop

Zero Retries 0155 Comments - Only 8 for that issue.

If you provide feedback via email, I may excerpt your feedback or include it in full. Unless you specifically grant me permission to include your name, I won’t do so. Feedback may be lightly edited for clarity.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
Founding Member 0000 - Steven Davidson K3FZT
Founding Member 0001 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 01
Founding Member 0002 - Chris Osburn KD7DVD
Founding Member 0003 - Don Rotolo N2IRZ
Founding Member 0004 - William Arcand W1WRA
Founding Member 0005 - Ben Kuhn KU0HN
Founding Member 0006 - Todd Willey KQ4FID
Founding Member 0007 - Merik Karman VK2MKZ
Founding Member 0008 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 14
Founding Member 0009 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 19
Numerous Annual and Monthly subscribers who also generously support Zero Retries financially!

Want to Support Zero Retries?

The most effective way to support Zero Retries is to simply mention Zero Retries to your co-conspirators that are also interested in knowing more about technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio and encourage them to become a fellow subscriber.
One particularly effective method of promoting Zero Retries is to add a mention of Zero Retries to your QRZ page (or other web presence) and include a link:
https://www.zeroretries.org

If you’d like to financially support Zero Retries, becoming a paid subscriber is greatly appreciated and helps offset expenses incurred in publishing Zero Retries. Paid subscriptions for Zero Retries are entirely optional, as explained in this special issue of ZR:
Zero Retries Administrivia - Activating Payment Options.

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories that often feature “Zero Retires Interesting” topics.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Ham Radio Workbench by George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU (and friends)

Zero Retries is currently using the Substack email publishing platform to publish Zero Retries. It’s particularly suitable for small newsletters as you can get started for no cost.

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Email issues of Zero Retries are “instrumented” by Substack to gather basic statistics about opens, clicking links, etc.

More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-06-14

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to reuse an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Footnotes for this Issue

[Footnote from Wikipedia] Bower, Joseph L. & Christensen, Clayton M. (1995). However the concept of new technologies leading to wholesale economic change is not a new idea since Joseph Schumpeter adapted the idea of creative destruction from Karl Marx. Schumpeter (1949) in one of his examples used "the railroadization of the Middle West as it was initiated by the Illinois Central". He wrote, "The Illinois Central not only meant very good business whilst it was built and whilst new cities were built around it and land was cultivated, but it spelled the death sentence for the [old] agriculture of the West. "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave" Harvard Business Review, January–February 1995.

The exclusion of FlexRadio from this list is deliberate, as FlexRadio’s products are largely software-based, and allow significant user customization through the use of their TCP/IP API and their Waveform API and their update of the product line to the 8000 series with significantly more compute capability as the basis for future capabilities.

Currently being redesigned / updated due to obsolescence of critical parts.

Zero Retries 0155

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

7 June 2024 at 22:30

Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. Now in its third year of publication, with ~~1700+~~ 1800+ subscribers.

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0155

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

1800+ Subscribers!

In Zero Retries 0153, a mere two issues / weeks ago, Zero Retries achieved 1700+ subscribers. Now Zero Retries has 1800+ subscribers!

Welcome, new subscribers, to Zero Retries!

Nice Mention of Zero Retries on Amateur Radio Workbench

This rush of subscriptions was due in part to Zero Retries receiving a mention from George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU on his popular podcast - Amateur Radio Workbench, Episode 209:

The other one I want to mention is a blog called Zero Retries by Steve Stroh, N8GNJ. And Steve is really a super accomplished digital VHF UHF expert. And he's participated in various organizations like [TAPR] and made publications and delivered papers and is just a real authority around digital radio stuff.
And he's got a fantastic blog called Zero Retries. So go to zeroretries.org.

My thanks to Dave Cherkus, N1AI in the Zero Retries 0153 comments for mentioning KJ6VU’s shout out.

~~(Zero Retries didn’t make it into the show notes of HRWB 209 which is why I wasn’t initially aware of it.)~~ Zero Retries is now mentioned in the HRWB 209 show notes.

That prompted me to do a bit of long-neglected housekeeping to the Closing the Channel section at the end of every Zero Retries. In addition to:

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:
and
These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

I’ve now added:

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:
Ham Radio Workbench by George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU (and friends)

(And will add other podcasts that regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content as I identify them.)

Nice (Extended) Mention of Zero Retries in Hot Iron Newsletter

Zero Retries also got a nice (extended!) mention in HOT IRON #125.

* Similarly, Zero Retries has articles of interest:
- #140: Pwr Amp suitable for Software Defined Transmitters, AI in electronic warfare
- #152: Teensy SDR project, Photon Radio (!)
- #151: The Modern Ham, Raspberry Pi, Stuff You Should Know
- #150: MJF wind down, more
- #149: Jam-resistant Ukranian drones, new designs, IPv6
- #148: Meshtastic, Meshmail, more
- Look at the archived issues for much more

This issue of Hot Iron (The Journal of the Constructor’s Club) was largely references to websites and other publications, etc. and the majority are Zero Retries Interesting. Hot Iron is free, delightful to read every quarter, and recommended!

That mention reminded me to do another bit of long-neglected housekeeping to add Hot Iron to the Closing the Channel section at the end of each Zero Retries:

These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 31 for becoming a Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 32 for becoming a Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

HAM RADIO 2024 in Friedrichshafen, Germany on 2024-06-28 thru 30, in 03 weeks!
JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 11 weeks!

See other events at the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences.

M17-Users email List Off to a Great Start

The M17-Users email list is off to a great start with 75 subscribers to date. We’re self-educating each other on topics relating to getting M17 more widely out into the real world. One example is the current thread about M17 (Wide Area) repeaters? where I learned that Bridgecom sells an off-the-shelf MMDVM option for its repeaters.

73,

Steve N8GNJ

What Stalls Amateur Radio Development?

By Wojciech Kaczmarski SP5WWP
w.kaczmarski@teletra.pl

An open letter exposing the current state of the amateur radio world, and roadblocks on the way to making it technologically up-to-date.

Warsaw, June 2024

Background

I’ve been a licensed amateur radio operator since 2016. In 2019, I started the M17 Project (1), a highly successful and widely acclaimed international endeavor. A few years later, in 2021, I was honored with the ARRL Technical Innovation Award for my contribution to the technical development of our hobby (2). M17 has become a large, overarching ecosystem, offering both software and hardware, open-source solutions (3). Through this time, I have worked with many people from all around the world. Most of them were exceptionally brilliant, but since M17 is based on volunteers’ work, our team members rotated constantly.

The current status of Amateur Radio

It’s not a secret that most of the amateur radio community depends on large companies (Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood) and solutions they provide. The status quo is all about keeping hardware and software proprietary, minimizing users’ chances to modify it. While there are new models of radios being advertised all the time, they do not offer anything new. This keeps the amateur radio world in a state of artificially sustained technological stagnation, short-sightedly throttling down the progress in order to maximize someone’s profit. It’s been already shown that community-driven projects can lead to technological advancements - the advent of MMDVM (4), M17, OpenRTX (5), WPSD (6), OpenWebRX (7), and many others. The purpose of this open letter is to show that cutting-edge, open-source solutions can only be successfully proliferated by a group of skilled amateur radio developers.

Stock, commercial firmware mostly lacks functionalities amateur radio operators seek. The reason behind that is simple - large corporations often don’t have a clue what amateur radio operators want. A solution to this seems very simple - let skilled users write their own replacement firmware, then release it under an appropriate open license, for the rest to use. Sounds easy, but as always, there’s a catch. The firmware flashing process is not always easy (binary files are almost always obfuscated) and requires a fair amount of reverse engineering effort.

The most popular digital voice mode is DMR (8) (looking at the users count and radio infrastructure size). It had to be adapted for ham radio use cases, as it was originally designed for professional use. DMR is based on an open standard released by ETSI. The standard by itself does not mention what voice coder should be used, but the de facto protocol seen “in the wild”, enforced by manufacturers, uses AMBE.

Linking radio access networks (RAN) using IPv6 and geostationary satellites and utilizing remote radio units (RRU) with powerful I/Q modems is without a doubt a technological advancement. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see Daniel Estevez’s (EA4GPZ) 32APSK modem (9) “move out” from the shacks of a few and be used in real hardware and by hams worldwide? Or at least in the QO-100’s footprint? This is just the tip of an iceberg of ideas to implement in the real world. We can’t just passively wait and expect major manufacturers to pick up on it. It is something we can do on our own.

The pitfalls of volunteer-based work

Volunteering is a wonderful work model - you get excellent, qualified workforce for free. It allowed many amazing projects to appear - MMDVM, OpenRTX, WPSD, M17, to name a few in the amateur radio community. There is a big problem behind it though - volunteers can rarely be bound with any obligations or time constraints. This also means no one can have any expectations against volunteers. They can be distracted, their reliability and commitment can span from anything between extremely enthusiastic to hardly interested. It is understandable that people prioritize tasks in their lives - family and daily job is by far more important for most of us than hobby-related projects (10).

This reveals the first issue of volunteer-based work: the difficulty of scheduling work when there aren't reliable resources available (11). Moreover, one’s good will is not enough to maintain focus on the less fun and more administrative sides of the project. Lifespan of a project can be short regardless of the level of technological advancement offered, due to lack of workforce.

Second issue relates to long term commitment required for sophisticated projects. Many complex functions require more than one person to be involved (12). This implies project management, reporting, planning and documentation, tasks seldom attractive for volunteers. People come and go, leaving unfinished tasks behind. The turnover rate varies mostly between days and, more rarely, months.

A volunteer-powered project works well when each task can be handled by a single person and when there are not too many interconnections with other functional blocks or submodules. This, of course, only applies with the assumption that there are no deadlines or other expected time constraints. The project basically has to “live its own life”, at its own pace, dictated by its contributors.

Third issue is maintainer burnout (13), widespread in the open-source community. Volunteering contributors come and go, but maintainers bear the long-term responsibility for the project's health and sustainability. This burden grows quickly with the project's popularity, leading to a form of burnout that leaves maintainers with emotional exhaustion and a decreased sense of accomplishment. One of the major contributors to maintainer burnout is loneliness (14).

As mentioned by Artem Sapegin (15):

“Open source became a synonym of free labor, not just free code, and it’s not only harmful for the whole community, but mostly for the maintainers of open source projects.”

The seemingly free labor suddenly turns expensive in terms of management and commitment sustenance.

In conclusion, this reasoning shows the difficulty of foreseeing a project's future in terms of development, funds management and allocation. That also makes any granting request process extremely hard or even unfeasible, leaving the following questions open:

Why are there so few developers paid for their work?
Is there an entity out there having enough funds and willing to change this?

“They all want, but do not commit”

Project’s followers usually have brilliant ideas and provide valuable feedback, but when it gets to implementation, suddenly everyone turns impotent. There are also those affected with severe non-committal disorder, who still keep repeating that they "would love to help", but for some reason nothing ever fits their specializations. Frequently, empty promises appear. Sooner or later, ideas are written off as “not having enough developers to implement” - there’s simply no one to perform the required task - an inherent developer shortage. Most projects just don’t have enough staff (are under-resourced) (16). This causes frustration and breaks down existing developers’ morale - they are overwhelmed by the number of pending tasks to do.

Another example is the shortage of educational and explanatory materials created by the community, despite the fact that the community has enough knowledge to create it.

For this exact reason, most subprojects are run by a single person, or mostly by a single person [vide: M17 specification document (17), WPSD (18), the Remote Radio Unit (19), OpenRTX (20)]. This burden causes significant emotional stress, easily deteriorating the lone developer's psyche. The effect is further amplified by the pressure coming from the user base, with its never-ending requests and expectations (21).

A possible solution

To be a real threat to the aforementioned status quo and bring amateur radio back to its open-source tinkering roots, it is not enough to rely on volunteers, as this model is too inefficient for large, high-impact projects. There is a significant, consistent effort required to provide the critical mass needed to bring products to market.

Justification

There are some good examples of companies that are the owners of open-source products (22). They all have paid staff to drive the vision and schedule for products, while maintaining good relationships with volunteers contributing to the projects. There must be a clear vision of the for-profit company to help align the volunteers who wish to remain incidental contributors.

Monetary profit is a human motivator that can be used to push the state-of-art forward faster than it would otherwise move. There seems to be a wide assumption that technology will continue to improve, however, that is not a certainty. Hiring an engineer who believes in the goals and vision of the organization relieves the pressure for the individual to have to work elsewhere to earn a living. The engineer’s priorities will naturally align with the priorities of the organization. This will help the organization to consistently drive to keep striving.

To sum it up, financial support:

allows contributors to stay focused on tasks (strong monetary incentive)
allows the team to make necessary purchases - equipment, licenses, etc.
makes management easier, as the workforce allocation can be adjusted
fixes timeframes for tasks
makes work efficient by making human resources engaged over extended periods of time.

Potential pitfalls

There should be no apologies for making a profit as this allows the organization to increase R&D efforts and add individuals to the engineering workforce. It can be a difficult transition from a non-profit volunteer based organization, as misunderstandings and hurt feelings can occur. However, by ensuring the vision is communicated clearly to the entire organization, both paid and volunteers, many of the issues are avoided.

Footnotes:

M17 Project’s homepage - https://m17project.org
https://www.arrl.org/news/view/the-2021-arrl-technical-innovation-award-honors-wojciech-kaczmarski-sp5wwp
M17 Project’s repositories - https://github.com/M17-Project
Multimode Digital Voice Modem - https://mmdvm.com
OpenRTX project’s homepage - https://openrtx.org
W0CHP Pi-Star Dashboard - https://w0chp.radio/wpsd/
Homepage - https://www.openwebrx.de/
https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/niche/index.php?mode=DMR
https://destevez.net/2021/05/32apsk-narrowband-modem-for-qo-100
https://networkingnerd.net/2024/04/26/on-open-source-and-volunteering
IARU “Shaping the Future” programme - https://storage.iaru-r1.org/index.php/s/DAtTorPyFaNFdXK/download?path=%2FInput%20documents%20incl%2 0amendments&files=ZL23_C3_54%20Shaping%20the%20Future%20programme.docx&downloadStartSecret= 5bs5djy8c13
https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/01/07/open-source-has-a-funding-problem
https://opensauced.pizza/blog/the-lonely-journey-of-open-source-maintainers
https://nutjs.dev/blog/i-give-up
https://dev.to/sapegin/why-i-quit-open-source-1n2e
IARU “Shaping the Future” volunteers and contributors - https://storage.iaru-r1.org/index.php/s/DAtTorPyFaNFdXK/download?path=%2FInput%20documents%20incl%2 0amendments&files=ZL23_C3_59%20Shaping%20the%20Future%20volunteers%20and%20contributors.docx &downloadStartSecret=9qjobuk5o3v
https://github.com/M17-Project/M17_spec
https://repo.w0chp.net/WPSD-Dev/WPSD-WebCode/commits/branch/master
https://github.com/M17-Project/rru-rf-hw
https://github.com/OpenRTX/OpenRTX/commits/master
https://github.com/OpenRTX/OpenRTX/issues
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-source_software

FlexRadio - APIs Include “Run In The Radio”

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

An update on the ability of FlexRadio units to run non-FlexRadio software in the radio - putting the (User) “Software Defined” into FlexRadio units. And a few impressions of the updated FlexRadio Maestro Control Console.

In Zero Retries 0153 - FlexRadio 8000 Series HF Radios - Even More Capable… Except for FreeDV, I took FlexRadio to task for not including the FreeDV mode as a feature of these new, more powerful radios:

No matter what the “advanced features” of the FlexRadio 8000 series, the lack of FreeDV as a native feature in SmartOS, is (in my mind) a significant failing on the part of FlexRadio. That FlexRadio can’t, or won’t, implement such a fundamental (in the mid 2020s) new mode says to me that FlexRadio is focused on the past of Amateur Radio:
Emission Modes - USB, LSB, CW, RTTY, AM, Synchronous AM, FM, NFM, DFM
RTTY isn’t quite a century old; but the rest of those modes are more than a century old.

At SEA-PAC 2024, I spoke to a person knowledgeable about FlexRadio who clarified a major point in my understanding of user customization of current FlexRadio units and current versions of FlexRadio’s SmartSDR software (the operating system of the radio units).

I did know that FlexRadio provides an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows external devices (and software running on external devices) to integrate with a FlexRadio, allowing those external devices / software to “appear native” on a FlexRadio. This capability is apparently implemented via the SmartSDR TCP/IP API. This is how the EZDV external unit is currently able to integrate with FlexRadios to operate FreeDV on a FlexRadio unit, such as shown in the illustration below:

FreeDV mode enabled on a current FlexRadio unit. Image courtesy of FreeDV Project.

Waveform API

When I explained my perspective that FreeDV should be able to run on the (sophisticated, powerful, Software Defined) FlexRadio units, the person knowledgeable about FlexRadio explained that FlexRadio offers another API, that allows software to run on the radio - the Waveform API:

For those wishing to experiment by creating their own digital mode or waveform, FlexRadio Systems offers the SmartSDR Waveform API. The Waveform API allows developers to create their own digital modes and integrate directly into SmartSDR. When a waveform module is loaded, the module registers with SmartSDR and delineates the modes it supports. These modes are then available in the standard mode selection interface inside SmartSDR. The operator simply selects the mode and beings operating. The Waveform API exchanges commands and status with the developer written waveform module as well as streaming samples. Completed modes may be run both outside and inside the radio with virtually no changes!

OK, now we’re talking! That sounds like exactly what was needed to implement FreeDV as a “native” mode on the radio. But, the person knowledgeable about FlexRadio disclaimed that because FreeDV is constantly being iterated, FreeDV is a “moving target”, and thus a low priority for FlexRadio to implement as a native mode in SmartSDR.

But, again, the Waveform API is there for anyone to use, such as FreeDV’s developers.

Thus, my understanding of this issue settled out into good news / bad news points:

Good News - The FlexRadio Waveform API exists, and could, in theory, makes my “ask” of adding FreeDV as a “native” mode on a FlexRadio unit / Smart SDR, running on the radio actually possible.

Bad News - The person knowledgeable about FlexRadio said that basically there isn’t enough (remaining) computing power on the current FlexRadio 6000 series units to actually add FreeDV (or other modes) as native modes via the Waveform API. (Almost all of the computing power of the FlexRadio 6000 series is now used to run the native SmartSDR functions.) Thus, adding FreeDV to FlexRadio 6000 units can only be implemented externally via the EZDV or equivalent unit (where the FreeDV processing happens outside the FlexRadio unit).

Good News - The newly announced FlexRadio 8000 units1 with …

4x the CPU power of the 6000 series and twice the performance in the FPGA over the FLEX-6000 series…

Will easily accommodate (again, per the person knowledgeable about FlexRadio) incorporation of FreeDV (and more) to run on the 8000 series radios.

Bad News - With the introduction of the FlexRadio 8000 series, the FlexRadio 6000 series is now obsoleted (but still highly functional, and very good HF radios).

Good News - The FlexRadio 8000 series is now the standard (only) product line available from FlexRadio, and it looks like FlexRadio maintained (at least, approximately) the same price points as the FlexRadio 6000 series.

So… apparently, my initial plaint about the FlexRadio 8000 series - that they wouldn’t / couldn’t run FreeDV (and other data modes) on that new radio product line… will be possible after the FlexRadio 8000 series begins shipping in August, 2024.

It probably won’t be FlexRadio that will implement FreeDV (and other modes) natively on the FlexRadio 8000 series, but apparently it’s doable by others via the FlexRadio Waveform API.

…

The New FlexRadio Maestro Control Console is Gorgeous!

At SEA-PAC, FlexRadio was showing off pre-production units of the FlexRadio 8000 series, along with the current (second generation?) version of the FlexRadio Maestro (Remote) Control Console. I… liked… the original Maestro Control Console… but I love the (new) current version of the Maestro Control Console. Apparently I was so infatuated with it I didn’t take a photo of it - argh! (The photos of the new Maestro on the FlexRadio website don’t do it justice.) The newer Maestro was just so… bright… and high resolution, and seemingly larger. It was just… compelling! When I (likely) purchase a FlexRadio unit, I will definitely purchase the Maestro Control Console.

Excellent job on the new Maestro, FlexRadio!

2024: Ham Radio in China, Soon Chinese Hams in Space

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

44Net VPN Beta Test Open for Applicants

Rebecca Key KO4KVG on the ARDC:44Net email list - 44Net Update, June 7, 2024:

For those of you interested in being a beta tester for the 44Net VPN, reach out to Adam at adam@ardc.net to get set up!

My email has been sent! Kudos to ARDC for finally getting to this point with the 44Net VPN project.

How the Army Handled D-Day Communications

The Allied invasion of continental Europe 80 years ago was a logistical tour de force. Its success hinged on an operative communications network unifying the invading armies and their support systems.
The U.S. Army Signal Corps, or “SigC,” was tasked with establishing massive, reliable, multi-channel high-speed voice and “data” networks. These networks would support a mission buildup of more than a million troops in a hostile environment.
That meant two-way voice circuits to keep decision-makers in touch and high-speed channels to exchange reconnaissance photos and situation maps evaluating the impact of aerial and ship-launched ordnance.
SigC’s design baselines were high capacity and agility, with low latency. Communications with the beach had to be established speedily using whatever gear made it to shore in the contested landings. The system had to be mobile: radio supplemented by ad-hoc wire telephony. Contact within operating units had to survive when troops mistakenly landed in one another’s sectors.
SigC had estimated it would need some 90,000 transmitters for the job. This mandated frequency coordination. The radios were largely short-range “hand-helds” but also included short- and medium-distance radio links to naval and air elements and Allied headquarters.

This is an excellent Zero Retries Interesting article by Mark Durenberger in RADIOWORLD, appropriate for the 80th anniversary of D-Day yesterday.

My thanks to Amateur Radio Weekly Issue 333 and Frank Barnes W4NPN (Hot Iron [Newsletter] Co-conspirator) for a special issue of Hot Iron Newsletter that alerted me to this story.

EggNOGS Antennas in Beta Test

Mark (Smitty) Smith N6MTS of Halibut Electronics is developing an easy kit (see the link for photos) for constructing an inexpensive, receive-only (at present) Eggbeater antenna. Eggbeaters are omnidirectional antennas where the energy (or receive focus) is focused “up” instead of “out” to better receive signals from satellites whizzing by overhead. The basic EggNOGS design has been proven out, but improvements are being made to the instructions, and correcting a few minor issues. EggNOGS kits will likely be available for sale in the next few months. The purpose of EggNOGS is to help construct SatNOGS stations for receiving telemetry from research satellites such as cubesats built and launched by university students or other small, not-for-profit project entities that don’t have global infrastructure to receive telemetry from their satellite.

Apparently the tricky bit about building your own eggbeater antenna is getting the phasing harness correct for developing the desired directivity of the antenna. N6MTS figured out that a printed circuit board would help with the most demanding parts of an eggbeater antenna, with only some small coax, and some wire (such as solid copper household interior electrical wire) to build your own low-cost eggbeater antenna. There will apparently be several versions of EggNOGS for specific frequencies depending on your desired satellite reception.

N6MTS has discussed the development of EggNOGS on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast and the Halibut Electronics support email list.

TheModernHam Blog - Zero Retries Interesting Articles

Billy Penley KN4MKB of Modern Ham YouTube channel and TheModernHam Blog has pushed out a streak of Zero Retries Interesting articles lately:

And those… were all written / posted in May, 2024!

KN4MKB’s energy (and breadth of Zero Retries Interesting knowledge) is inspiring!

Note that you can subscribe to TheModernHam newsletter (one email per month, summarizing blog articles) in the lower right corner of the blog.

Kudos KN4MKB!

Pico SDR (I have never built a radio before.)

From the blog nanoseconds of curiosity:

As a software developer I have had my share of building networking applications. Even ones that made use of WiFi or cellular networks. But I have never really understood how those radios worked at the level where software met the electromagnetic field.
I have looked into some of the lower frequency, DIY amateur stuff. Everyone seemed to be building “Manhattan-style” analog boards. That was putting me off, because I am rather clumsy with my hands, lack the patience to carefully “dead-bug” solder the parts and most importantly, I don’t really find circuits without a programmable controller attractive enough.
On the transmitting side, it ends up being fundamentally pretty simple. Just toggle a GPIO pin at the correct frequency, connect piece of wire as an antenna and get on the air. Besides the desired signal, you will pollute the spectrum with a lot of unwanted harmonics and mixing products, so add a filter or use more pins to shape your signal to more closely resemble sine wave. There is a lot more to it, but most of the complexity lies at the receiving end.
Receivers are hard.
How would one even go about building a digital receiver? And I am not talking about buying a ready-made module and connecting it to an Arduino. How would one even begin building a receiver using general purpose microcontroller from scratch?
Surprisingly, it has been done and documented multiple times before. Some super smart people who have actually made radio receivers using FPGA and some passives have left the breadcrumbs for us to follow.
The only issue is that their FPGA always had a high speed comparator to use as a 1-bit ADC. And the chip I currently enjoy messing around with does not have one. So how would one build a digital radio receiver using RP2040, heart of the Raspberry Pi Pico?

This is a different approach to building a software defined radio, and the author explains their learning progression very well.

My thanks to Jenny List and Hackaday for mentioning this article.

ARDOP added to HF [BBS] Backbones

Jeff Mein KP3FT on the EastNetPacket email list:

If anyone's interested, N3MEL and I have added the ARDOP mode to our HF backbone setup. It's a good mode for anyone who doesn't want to use VARA, plus it is Linux-native (as well as Windows). I'm using the latest ARDOPCF version which was released a few days ago. Glenn N3MEL is using the oriogional ARDOP. They're compatible with each other.
…
There's some good info here on the older ARDOPC version: https://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Documents/ARDOPC.html

If you want to try the latest version, the downloads are here: https://github.com/pflarue/ardop/releases/tag/1.0.4.1.2

They're stand-alone binaries, so no installation is required. Just put in in any folder and run it from there. The Linux version needs to be made executable in permissions before running it. Also, renaming the download to just "ardopcf" makes things easier. It's command line in Linux and Windows, so in my case I use for Linux:

ardopcf -G 8514 8515 plughw:1,0 plughw:1,0

and for Windows, I use:

ardopcf -G 8514 8515 USB USB

The -G 8514 switch enables a web browser interface (127.0.0.1:8514) that shows a nice waterfall and some settings. 8515 is the default ARDOP port for BPQ, Winlink, etc. to link to.

The command-line will be different for others, depending on your setup. USB USB works fine in WIndows if you're using only one USB sound device for digi-modes. In Linux, the plughw:1,0 plughw:1,0 is my USB sound device. The plughw:1,0 plughw:1,0 forces 12000hz sampling since ARDOP works better with that rate.

Make sure your radio's filter passband audio is at least as wide as ARDOP's bandwidth, otherwise ARDOP will show "BUSY". ARDOP can use four bandwidths: 200, 500, 1000, and 2000. We're using 1000 since it allows decent BPS speed but still without being very wide. 200 is way too slow for forwarding BBS mail.

The only ARDOP-interfacing I'm familiar with is BPQ and Winlink, no idea what's possible with interfacing it with, say, JNOS or others.
…
Oops, I left out KN4LQN in Virginia. He's also running the new ARDOPCF on his node, backbone-linked the N3MEL. It's not strictly Eastnet, but we're using HF to link some Eastnet to some BPQ and JNOS nodes and vis-versa.

Latest ARDOPCF release: https://github.com/pflarue/ardop/releases/tag/1.0.4.1.2

The developer is looking for users to give feedback.

VARA works great, but some folks don't want to use closed-source, proprietary or non-Linux modes, so ARDOP is a good alternative to use for HF backbones.

Wow… sounds like ARDOP is now evolving quickly to be an open source alternative to VARA HF for reasonably fast data communications on Amateur Radio HF.

Open Headset Interconnect Standard (OHIS)

Open: Any individual or company may make devices compliant with this standard, with no obligation.
Headset: Describes the signaling commonly found between a user and a radio: Microphone, Headphones, and Push To Talk.
Interconnect: Describes both the physical and electrical connection of those signals between the user and radio.
Standard: Devices built to this standard will work with other devices built to the same standard.
Introduction, The Elevator Pitch
The Amateur Radio community has standards for DC power (13.8v +/- 15%, Anderson Powerpole connectors, etc) and RF (50 ohm coax, PL-259/BNC/SMA connectors, etc). But we have no such standards for the interface between the user and the radio. Is the microphone a dynamic, or electret? Is it balanced, "pseudo" balanced, or unbalanced? Is the audio out from the radio at speaker level, headphone level, or line level? Is it push-pull, or ground referenced single ended? Is push-to-talk (PTT) triggered by a contact closure to ground, completing the Mic loop, or by a serial digital command?
There are so many different standards for microphone, headphone, and PTT that it is improbable that one could take their preferred headset and connect it to any radio without an adapter. In a multi-user environment, such as a club shack, Field Day type event, or an EOC, they would need a full-mesh of adapters to ensure any user can connect their own headset to any radio: O(N^2) adapters.
With the Open Headset Interconnect Standard, or OHIS, the club/EOC can build/buy one adapter for every radio which stays with that radio, and the user only needs to build/buy one adapter for their specific headset which stays with their headset, and now they can achieve full interoperability with only O(N) adapters.
This standard builds on the work done by Tom Tengdin WB9VXY, with his Proposed ARES Standard Headset. This standard is different than his proposal in a few places to make it more generalized, and provides more detail and clarity around several points.

Mention of OHIS is one of way too many “deferred too long” topics to I intended to mention in Zero Retries. (I gotta clear out that backlog, somehow.) I met Mark (Smitty) Smith N6MTS of Halibut Electronics at SEA-PAC 2024, and seeing the HE products on display reminded me of the excellent work (and energy) N6MTS has put into OHIS including offering OHIS products based on the Open Source OHIS standard.

Three Zero Retries Interesting Mentions in Amateur Radio Weekly Issue 333

A group that accounts for only 1/10,000 of the country's population – Amateur Radio enthusiasts.

We (at least in the US) just don’t hear much about Chinese hams. We know they exist and this answers a few questions. There have been a number of interesting Chinese Amateur Radio systems put into space in the last few years.

…

So what's all this HaLow Long-Range WiFi about then?

HaLow or IEEE 802.11ah protocol are starting to edge into the realm of affordability.

Amateur Radio data communications in the 902-928 MHz band is “a fertile area for development”.2 I hope to feature an interesting article on this subject by a highly qualified guest author in Zero Retries soon. The link is to a (typically good, conversational) Hackaday article, which links to a great YouTube video by Andreas Speiss (HB9BLA, though this is his “non Amateur Radio” YouTube channel).

…

A History of Amateur Satellites and Project OSCAR

A detailed history of Amateur Radio satellites from 1961-2003.

This is really good, and as ARW says, detailed! A bit sad that it doesn’t continue through the present day. Kudos to Steve Bible N7HPR for compiling this.

…

Kudos to Cale Mooth K4HCK - he’s doing a great job of sourcing Zero Retries Interesting mentions in Amateur Radio Weekly and Amateur Radio Daily! Both recommended!

FDIM 2024 - zBitx - Bringing CW into the 21st Century by Asher Farhan VU2ESE

I’ve only watched this video in spurts and skipping around; I haven’t watched it all the way through (though I will).

VU2ESE has a refreshing approach to his (proposed? prototype? future product? - not sure) zBitx radio (of which there is no other mention on the web, that I can find), which despite the prominent mention of CW, will actually support SSB and some data modes. He makes an interesting (and, highly relevant, in my opinion) case for a “CW” radio to include FT8 as a fast, automated way to “sound” the bands to insure that the radio and antenna are working. I think that’s the best argument for an automated method of making contacts, similar to WSPR / WSPRnet, to be able to rapidly and iteratively test antennas, radios, modifications, changing antenna orientations, etc.

This is yet another Zero Retries Interesting development coming out of (adjacent to) Hamvention 2024 that hasn’t been widely mentioned.

My thanks to Garth Kidd VK2TTY on Mastodon for mentioning this video.

kissutil - Man Page - KISS TNC troubleshooting and Application Interface

kissutil can be used interactively for troubleshooting a KISS TNC. It is usable with direwolf and other generic KISS TNCs connected to a serial port. It can also be used as an application interface where each side places files in a directory for the other to process. See User Guide for more details.

Given the very wide usage of KISS in Amateur Radio applications, this utility might be very handy for troubleshooting when KISS… isn’t quite so simple.

Apologies, I didn’t record the source of this mention.

Feedback Loop

Of late, limited editing time for Zero Retries hasn’t permitted me to provide excerpts of comments in previous issues. That said, comments have been very (and delightfully) active and informative in recent issues of Zero Retries! Comments in these issues are still open:

Comments in earlier issues of Zero Retries are now closed.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
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These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer. (As of 2024-06-01, KE9V’s blog seems to be on hiatus.)
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Hot Iron - The Journal of the Constructor’s Club is a delightful quarterly newsletter.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

These podcasts regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

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More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-06-07

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to reuse an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Footnotes For This Issue

Oddly, there is still no press release by FlexRadio in their News section with the specifics of the improvements of the 8000 series over the current 6000 series. But apparently there was a press release - PileupDX mentioned it - The Next Generation of SDR Solutions to the Amateur Community.

Very fertile area for development; I’ve lost count of the attempted, and failed, projects doing Amateur Radio data for 902-928 MHz.

Re: What stalls amateur radio development?

Steve

6 June 2024 at 00:19

Recently the leader of the M17 radio project, Wojciech, SP5WWP, wrote an interesting open letter.

He wrote; "amateur radio community depends on large companies (Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood) and solutions they provide."

What I have to add to this is as time has elapsed this dependancy has become more so than in it the early days of the hobby. And clearly this is not good without at least a better line communcations with these companies.

However, there are external to the hobby factors to consider. Globalization is what has lead us from a lot of small companies to a few large ones. Some good of globalization has come, but truthfully a lot of bad as well.

In am 45 and when and where I grew up there was still a vibrant manfactuting based economy. Now that has sadly shifted to a consumer based economy. And how does that house of cards even really work in a global society? What do you have to trade? You once did....

The education system (at least speaking of the American one) is another point of failure as it has really not kept in check with promoting technical schools and life skills vs 4 year colleges.

My grandfather and father's generation were handy, they could fix jut about anything they had. Why did this change? Part of it was they lived through or had an effect left by the great depression. Now are better off (at least in the pocket book), and really I hate to say it, this has made us lazy. Sure maybe you father now doesn't change his own oil for example, but if that's the case his son will likely never learn it. It's not rocket science, but if the future doesn't learn certain things then they die off.

Wojciech alos talks about pitfalls of volunteer-based work. He is talking about open source development, but when I look at any number of clubs or groups, be them ham radio or other; the bulk of the reliable volunteers are that of an older generation.

The question is what motivates people these days? The survival instinct of the older generation has faded.

Zero Retries 0154

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

31 May 2024 at 22:30

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0154

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Major Conference Countdowns

HAM RADIO 2024 in Friedrichshafen, Germany on 2024-06-28 thru 30, in 04 weeks! (Previous mentions of HAM RADIO 2024 have been off by two weeks - please help me keep these correct, folks.)
JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 12 weeks!

See other events at the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences.

Greetings From SEA-PAC at Seaside, Oregon, USA

I’m in (sunny!) Seaside this weekend to soak in some Amateur Radio ambiance and do a little bit of evangelism for Zero Retries at SEA-PAC 2024, which is

The Northwest's Largest Ham Convention
and the ARRL Northwestern Division Convention

As explanation to those outside the Pacific Northwest, despite our major cities of Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, there is no other all-weekend Amateur Radio conference in the Northwest. Thus, SEA-PAC is the “Hamvention” of the Northwest.

SEA-PAC is held in a small convention center in the middle of Seaside, which is a vacation destination on the beautiful Oregon coast, so there are ample distractions besides Amateur Radio to justify a family vacation for non-techie Dad and the kids while Mom indulges in some total immersion of Amateur Radio for a few hours at a time. It’s common for SEA-PAC attendees to drift in and out of SEA-PAC to attend a seminar, check back with an exhibitor that was previously too crowded, and then go for a walk or extended lunch, etc. SEA-PAC has an active flea market, all indoors, with a large number of tables on Saturday, and about 25% of the flea market tables remaining on Sunday.

In summary, SEA-PAC is a smaller, relaxed Amateur Radio conference that draws attendees from the extended Northwest region, including other western states and a fair number of Canadians.

Zero Retries will have its first-ever exhibit table at SEA-PAC 2024, where I will be talking about Zero Retries and hoping to speak with a lot of Zero Retries Interesting Amateur Radio Operators! (Photos in next issue of Zero Retries.)

Separately, Tina KD7WSF will staff the Zero Retries’ flea market table with a fair amount of ephemera from N8GNJ Labs as a fundraiser for Zero Retries. All items will be “priced for sale”.

We hope to see you at both tables!

Nice Mention of Zero Retries in Ria’s Ham Shack Newsletter

The Ria’s Ham Shack Newsletter by Ria Jairam N2RJ has resumed after a hiatus of almost a year. In her 2024-05-28 newsletter, she gave a nice shout-out to Zero Retries:

But this isn’t the end for ham radio. Over the years I’ve seen a number of small businesses pop up and make ham radio accessories. As has been noted in Zero Retries - another SubStack that you should definitely subscribe to - many of the smaller guys are stepping up and making stuff. And ham radio has always been more of a boutique niche anyway. In particular I have seen Scott Robbins, W4PA, take on the ownership of Vibroplex and add many more product lines. Ironically they are even selling microphones.

N2RJ’s mention caused another burst of new subscribers to Zero Retries, so Thank You N2RJ!

Active Commenting on Zero Retries 0153

As I write this, there are now 20 comments on Zero Retries 0153, including several follow-ups from Jerry Wagner KK6LFS (Connect Systems, Inc.) regarding my story about Connect Systems versus DVSI.

73,

Steve N8GNJ

M17 Is a Complete System

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

A funny thing happened in the years-long development process to create a new digital voice system called M17 Project, based on open source principles, for Amateur Radio…

It worked! All the pieces are now available for M17 to be a usable system.

Footnote from Zero Retries 0153 that, in retrospect, should have been more prominent:

It’s a longer term discussion, worthy of an (eventual) dedicated issue of Zero Retries, but I’ve recently come to the conclusion that M17 is complete (enough) and “ready to go” to be a capable digital voice… and messaging / data… system for Amateur Radio. There are some issues, including establishing recognition that M17 is usable now, getting it adequately documented, and of course, having at least a few ready-to-use radios with M17 built-in available. But the largest issue with M17 is the momentum, and the sunk costs, of existing single-mode DMR, D-Star, SF repeaters, radios owned by individuals, and Internet interconnection networks. It will take some serious evangelism to get folks to understand the advantages of M17.

My thanks to Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Dan Romanchik KB6NU for a conversation that touched on M17 for sparking this “dawning awareness” on my part that all of the pieces are now in place for M17 to be used for communicating via digital voice (and probably, text messaging and data transfer, though I haven’t fully confirmed that). Those that have been following M17 closely, or involved in its development, have undoubtedly understood this point, but (many? most?) of us merely trying to follow the progress on M17 haven’t quite caught up to this development.

In answer to a likely question (thanks again KB6NU!) in advance:

Why haven’t I been hearing about this progress with M17?

… I can’t really answer why the official M17 team hasn’t been better evangelizing that M17 really is “ready to go”. I only recently came to this realization from trying to follow, and explain, M17 for discussion here in Zero Retries.

Another obvious question in advance:

Do we really need more splintering of digital voice modes in Amateur Radio?

In a word, Yes.

Yet another Digital Voice mode is justified given the significant technical (and philosophical) differentiation of M17. There is a significant user base in Amateur Radio that does not like using proprietary technology such as proprietary CODECs in Amateur Radio, and M17 is an answer to that issue.

The primary differentiation of M17 versus all the other VHF / UHF (repeater operation) digital voice modes used in Amateur Radio is that M17 is fully Open Source. All of the details - hardware, software, protocols, etc., especially the critical voice CODEC are publicly documented. That documentation is sometimes not easily found, but it’s all out there. Part of my “M17 mini project” is to track down all of that for easy reference. And, with technologies such as Software Defined Transceivers and Multi Mode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM), it’s “easy” to incorporate, or switch to a new mode such as M17.

As I say above, to fully explain all of this requires a dedicated issue of Zero Retries (which I intend to do within the next month), and perhaps even a small book, as well as other support resources, such as…

Another resource that I think has been needed for M17 to become more mainstream in Amateur Radio is an email discussion list, which I’ve now created:

M17-Users page on Groups.io (if you have a groups.io account)
Send a blank email to m17-users+subscribe@groups.io.

Note - I started M17-Users as a free account on groups.io, which has a maximum of 100 users. If you try to subscribe and are told the list is “full”, please be patient. I’ll deal with expanding M17-Users into a paid Groups.io option (hopefully with some financial assistance) in due course.

Admittedly, it’s… inadvisable… to create such an email list on a weekend when I won’t be able to actively monitor it, but this article was the optimal opportunity to mention such a group. Thus, initially, I chose to require approval of new subscribers. I’ll approve new subscribers as fast as I’m able - please be patient.

If you’re interested in being a co-moderator of M17-Users, please let me know.

One last note is that in doing the aforementioned dedicated issue of Zero Retries on M17, (potentially) a small book, and the M17-Users email list, I’m not trying to usurp or bypass or exclude the existing M17 Project web page or resources, or “steal any of the credit” for all those who’ve created or supported M17. These items are my individual assessment of additional “exposure” that M17 needs to “rise to the next level” of wider usage and understanding, and what I’m capable of doing to support M17 as an individual, in conjunction with my work in Zero Retries. If there’s interest on the part of the existing M17 team, I’m happy to work with them to integrate these resources into the larger M17 ecosystem.

And… to answer two last questions, given the nature of M17 as an Open Source system:

Yes, I will make the contents of my (potential) M17 book publicly available (though I plan to also sell it as a hardcopy book).
Yes, the choice of Groups.io (a proprietary system) was deliberate. I have no desire, or ability, to self-host an email list using open source email list systems.

What We've Learned About SDRs From Russia's War On Ukraine

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

QMX+ 160-6m, 5W Multi-mode Transceiver

QRP Labs QMX+ - Image courtesy of QRP Labs

The QRP Labs QMX+ apparently debuted at the Four Days In May (FDIM) 2024 conference held in conjunction with Hamvention 2024, but was not widely reported (that I saw).

The "QMX+" (QRP Labs Mulitmode Xcvr): a feature-packed, high performance, 11-band (160-6m) 5W multi-mode transceiver kit, including embedded SDR receiver, 24-bit 48 ksps USB sound card, RTC, CAT control, synthesized VFO with TCXO reference. QMX+ transmits a SINGLE SIGNAL, it is not an SSB modulator with associated unwanted sideband and residual carrier, or intermodulation due to amplifier non-linearity. QMX+ outputs a pure single signal. QMX is currently only suitable for single tone FSK modes, which covers the majority of digital modes in use today (if it later supports SSB, multi-tone and phase shift digi modes will be possible). This includes everything in WSJT-X, JS8Call, some fldigi modes e.g. RTTY, Olivia and more. QMX+ is also suitable for on/off keyed modes such as CW because it has click-reducing RF envelope shaping; it is not suitable (until and if SSB is implemented) for phase shift keyed modes such as PSK31 or modes involving multiple concurrent tones such as WinLink.

The above is very short shrift for this radio that’s been more than a year in development, has a wide range of relevant (not “fluffy”) features, and is the product of one person - Hans Summers G0UPL. Please go to the link above for the full description of the QMX+.

What’s amazing is that the price, if you buy it assembled, with options such as a case, is less than $250! Granted, this is a low transmit power HF radio, but wow… for that price… it’s pretty Zero Retries Interesting! What was particularly Zero Retries Interesting was this mention:

QMX+ is not yet suitable for phase shift keyed modes such as PSK31 or modes involving multiple concurrent tones such as WinLink (a later SSB firmware release will enable this).

I’m particularly interested in the QMX+ because of its 6 meter (50 - 54 MHz in the US) capability. The 6 meter band is called the “Magic Band” for its ability to act like a VHF band (short range), or an HF band (long range) depending on the whims of the ionosphere, and that sounds like fun, especially given that antennas for 6 meters can be made to a reasonable size.

To me, it’s impressive that QRP Labs will (potentially; apparently it’s not promised) enable such a significant new feature (mode), solely in a future firmware release.

Apologies that I can’t find a reference to who first brought the debut of the QMX+ to my attention… but it was probably Zero Retries Pseudostaffer Jeff Davis KE9V.

In the Age of Satellites, Cell Towers and Web Servers, CMU Offers Amateur Radio Course

From WESA 90.5 - Pittsburgh’s National Public Radio News Station:

Carnegie Mellon University first offered the Introduction to Amateur Radio course to aspiring student radio operators in spring 2022. Students learn not only the technical skills necessary for basic construction and use of amateur radio, or ham radio, but also the history and culture, dating back to the early 20th century, when the U.S. Radio Act of 1912 guaranteed the use of the electromagnetic spectrum to the public.
“I think it's one of the very unique things about ham radio: It's a people thing,” said former course student and Carnegie Tech Radio Club president Anish Singhani. “At its core, it's about the people.”
Amateur radio in the advanced technological age
In the 21st century — years past the advent of smartphones and the internet — ham radio may seem like an obsolete form of communication, but assistant teaching professor Tom Zajdel explained that amateur radio is still evolving and improving. While new technologies have asserted themselves in the sphere of wireless communication, Zajdel believes amateur radio is around for the long haul.
“Ham radio’s death has been predicted many times, but it changed a lot and evolved,” Zajdel said. “[It] used to just be Morse code, like that was your only option. Then, vacuum tubes were a thing, so you could modulate your voice … The technology keeps changing.”
“Now you can do digital communication modes using encoding schemes and compression schemes that were unheard of 20 years ago,” Singhani said.
The technological developments in amateur radio aren’t the only thing keeping it alive. Behind the science of soldering an FM transmitter and bouncing radio waves off the atmosphere lies a technical art that never gets old to the operators.
“Amateurs like building their own equipment, and there's just a lot of pride in kind of making your own thing — can I make the antenna super-small, super-lightweight, really efficient?” Zajdel posed. “It's just really neat to see the art coming in that way.”
The amateur radio course gives CMU students the chance to connect with operators across Pittsburgh on the air; Singhani says it also strengthens personal connections across the CMU community.
“One of my favorite parts of being the president of this club has been collaborating with all of these other groups on campus that we provide radio communications for,” Singhani said. “I've worked with all of these different groups that do all these different things, but in some way or another, I've been able to help them out with [their] radio services.”

CMU is a major technological educational institution in the US, and that it finds merit in offering a course dedicated to Amateur Radio is to me, highly significant.

It puzzles me why significant developments and mentions like this are not widely reported in Amateur Radio media, but lack of mentions like this are why I saw the need to start Zero Retries.

ARRL Digital Contest This Weekend

The ARRL Digital contest is this weekend (2024-06-01 and 02 (first full weekend of June). In my opinion, the contest should include all of the VHF / UHF bands to be more inclusive to (US) Technician Amateur Radio Operators. Although the intent of the ARRL Digital Contest seems to be data modes, it’s ambiguous as Digital Voice would seem to be within the category of this contest, but I’m not a contester. The evolution of this contest will be interesting in future years as perhaps FreeDV (Digital Voice) and FreeDATA (data using the FreeDV waveform) converge become integrated (or at least, easily interoperable), allowing interleaved voice and data communications. I hope to participate in this contest in future years with a portable system.

Unfortunately, many of the links in the description of the ARRL Digital Contest don’t work due to the ARRL’s ongoing challenges and recovery from its recent Systems Service Disruption.

My thanks to Mark Thompson WB9QZB who posted mention of this contest on the digital-mode-radio mailing list.

Electromagnetic Field 2024 (Event) This Weekend

Apologies for not mentioning this event sooner. I think it was mentioned to me in advance, but I don’t think such a mention made it into previous issues of Zero Retries.

Electromagnetic Field is a non-profit camping festival [in Eastnor, UK, May 30th – June 2nd 2024] for those with an inquisitive mind or an interest in making things: hackers, artists, geeks, crafters, scientists, and engineers.
A temporary town of nearly three thousand like-minded people enjoying a long weekend of talks, performances, and workshops on everything from blacksmithing to biometrics, chiptunes to computer security, high altitude ballooning to lockpicking, origami to democracy, and online privacy to knitting.
To help matters along, we provide fast internet, power to the tent, good beer, and amazing installations, entirely organised by a dedicated team of volunteers.

The above description doesn’t mention radio, but I think that the mentions to me (again, apologies…) stated that radio is a significant part of Electromagnetic Field.

uSDR Software Updated to v1.7.0

RTL-SDR.COM blog:

USDR SOFTWARE UPDATED TO V1.7.0
Thank you to Viol for writing in and letting us know that his uSDR software has recently been updated to V1.7.0. The uSDR software (not to be confused with the unrelated uSDR hardware) is a lightweight general-purpose multimode program for Windows that supports the RTL-SDR, Airspy, BladeRF, HackRF, LimeSDR, and other SDR radios.
Viol highlights the latest features added in the 1.7.0 update below:
Fobos SDR frontend native support, the very new SDR from RigExpert
bladeRF API v2.5.0 support, oversampling mode up to 122.88 MHz sample rate (do not forget to update FX3 firmware)
advanced IQ playback mode, precise timing and streaming
improved DSP routines and memory management, minimized CPU load
excellent ruler tool for spectrum frequency and amplitude measurements

Despite support of Software Defined Transceiver units (BladeRF, HackRF, LimeSDR), uSDR is a receiver application.

Secure, Adaptive, And Intelligent: The Future Of Military SDR Applications

Interesting mention of Amateur Radio, and a different way to think about Software Defined Radio, in this article from RF Globalnet:

More Than “Voodoo Magic”
SDR is popular with amateur radio enthusiasts who use the technology for radio communication, satellite tracking, and signal decoding. Ham radio operators, especially the younger generation with ECE/CS degrees love the technology but parts of the older generation frown upon SDR as “voodoo magic” with too many computer/network dependencies.
Ham radio operator and professional technologist Onno Benschop (VK6FLAB) says on his podcast Foundations of Amateur Radio (April 28, 2019)that describing SDR as “traditional radio where all the components are implemented in software” is similar to “explaining how a radio works by waiving your hands and saying: here is magic.” Benschop says that how SDR works is altogether more interesting and thought-provoking than that.
“You may have heard that a Software Defined Radio hears all frequencies at the same time,” Benschop says. “Essentially, it's a voltmeter connected to your antenna, spitting out measurements as fast as it can for processing by a computer. The waveform that comes from those antenna voltage measurements represents all of the RF spectrum and it's just the beginning of what you can do next.
“In the same way that my voice is made up of lots of different parts, all played together, the RF spectrum is made up of the local broadcast stations, the local TV stations, mobile phones, garage remotes, Roy on the 7130 DX net, this podcast on your local repeater, all at the same time, all played together, to make the waveform that represents the measurements you make at the base of an antenna. Unlike a traditional radio, which has to work hard to filter out undesirable information, a software defined radio can filter out information by just deleting those measurements you're not interested in.”
While Benschop is interested in SDR because of his love of amateur radio, defense agencies worldwide seeking advanced communication solutions are utilizing it as well to the point is emerging as a vital component in modernizing military communication systems.

A sidebar on this article pointed to an RF Globalnet article from 2023-06 that I missed:

Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Seeks Comment on the Impacts of the May 2024 Geomagnetic Storm on the U.S. Communications Sector

US Federal Communications Commission (FCC):

PS Docket No. 24-161
Comments Due: June 24, 2024
The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB or Bureau) seeks comment on any observed impacts to communications that resulted from the May 2024 severe geomagnetic storm. On Thursday, May 9, 2024, the National Weather Service Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch, forecasting a series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that merged with the Earth’s electromagnetic fields between May 7-11, 2024. On May 11, 2024, the storm reached extreme (G5) conditions, the first time this severity has been observed since 2003. According to the SWPC, CMEs are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona. Electromagnetic currents generated by CMEs, when merged with the Earth’s electromagnetic fields, may distort the propagation of radio frequency waves.

Engineering for Slow Internet - How to Minimize User Frustration in Antarctica

From brr.fyi (blog of an IT specialist who spent a year in Antarctica):

It’s a bit of a departure from the normal content you’d find on brr.fyi, but it reflects my software / IT engineering background.
I hope folks find this to be an interesting glimpse into the on-the-ground reality of using the Internet in bandwidth-constrained environments.
…
It’s a non-trivial feat of engineering to get any Internet at the South Pole! If you’re bored, check out the South Pole Satellite Communications page on the public USAP.gov website, for an overview of the limited selection of satellites available for Polar use.
…
Until very recently, at McMurdo, nearly a thousand people, plus numerous scientific projects and operational workloads, all relied on a series of links that provided max, aggregate speeds of a few dozen megabits per second to the entire station. For comparison, that’s less bandwidth shared by everyone combined than what everyone individually can get on a typical 4g cellular network in an American suburb.

I found a mention of this blog early during his tenure in Antarctica and I was fascinated by their techie perspective of the amazing adaptations that are required (by humans) to live in Antarctica.

This particular post is Zero Retries Interesting because it explains, in contemporary terms, that TCP/IP does work at v… e… r… y… slow data rates… if reasonable assumptions and engineering (which they explain) are applied to Internet applications. Like “higher” speeds possible with Amateur Radio data communications on VHF / UHF such as VARA FM, New Packet Radio, etc. (think kilobits per second, not necessarily megabits per second).

Perhaps… Starlink to the rescue for Antarctic personnel in the near future?

TinyCircuits - Worth a Look

TinyTV 2 - Image courtesy of TinyCircuits

TinyCircuits has nothing to do with Amateur Radio (at least yet…), but they have an amusing… actually, kind of amazing, product line, including the TINYTV 2 shown above. TinyCircuits products would be an ideal gift for techies.

I decided that TinyCircuits was worth a mention here in Zero Retries given the recent discussions of new generations of portable Amateur Radio units (hopefully Software Defined Transceivers), and the challenges of small, power efficient displays, etc. In addition to the “cute” products, TinyCircuits offers the TinyDuino Platform:

… a miniature open-source electronics platform based on the easy-to-use hardware and software Arduino platform. The platform is comprised of a TinyDuino processor board and multiple TinyShields which add special functions, like sensors, communications, and display options that stack together like LEGO blocks. The TinyDuino Platform is also open-source, we have released all of the design files for all of our products. If you have a great idea you are free to design your own board derived from our design files which can be found here.

Join the Fun on Amateur Radio

Zero Retries Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) — In development 2023-02.

Closing the Channel

My ongoing Thanks to:

Tina Stroh KD7WSF for, well, everything!
Founding Members who generously support Zero Retries financially:
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Founding Member 0006 - Todd Willey KQ4FID
Founding Member 0007 - Merik Karman VK2MKZ
Founding Member 0008 - Prefers to Remain Anonymous 14
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Numerous Annual and Monthly subscribers who also generously support Zero Retries financially!

Want to Support Zero Retries?

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These blogs and newsletters regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

Dan Romanchik KB6NU mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Jeff Davis KE9V also mentions “Zero Retries Interesting” topics so regularly on his blog (that I otherwise wouldn’t know about) that I’ve bestowed on him the honorific of Pseudostaffer.
Amateur Radio Weekly by Cale Mooth K4HCK is a weekly anthology of links to interesting Amateur Radio stories.
Experimental Radio News by Bennet Z. Kobb AK4AV discusses (in detail) Experimental (Part 5) licenses issued by the US FCC. It’s a must-read-now for me!
RTL-SDR Blog - Excellent coverage of Software Defined Radio units.
TAPR Packet Status Register has been published continuously since 1982.
Other Substack Amateur Radio newsletters recommended by Zero Retries.

These YouTube channels regularly feature Zero Retries Interesting content:

HB9BLA Wireless by Andreas Spiess HB9BLA
KM6LYW Radio by Craig Lamparter KM6LYW (home of the DigiPi project)
Modern Ham by Billy Penley KN4MKB
Tech Minds by Matthew Miller M0DQW

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More bits from Steve Stroh N8GNJ:

SuperPacket blog — Discussing new generations of Amateur Radio Data Communications — beyond Packet Radio (a precursor to Zero Retries)
N8GNJ blog — Amateur Radio Station N8GNJ and the mad science experiments at N8GNJ Labs — Bellingham, Washington, USA

2024-05-31

Blanket permission is granted for TAPR to use any Steve Stroh content in Zero Retries for the TAPR Packet Status Register (PSR) newsletter (I owe them from way back).

In such usage, please provide appropriate authorship credit for the content.

If you’d like to reuse an article in this issue for other uses, just ask.

Death to FM

Steve

29 May 2024 at 17:29

It's no secret that I feel it's out lived it's usefulness. We are at a point where the commerical two way is near non-existant. That has mosly all moved to cellular. In the past we have had a lot of repurposed equipment from public safety and commerical markets. We've also seen "cycles" in the hobby. It started with spark and CW, then AM voice, then SSB, then the 70's and FM. In the 90's there was quite a fuss about spread spectrum, but sadly it never really look off in the hobby.

How we have the VHF/UHF bands carved up and regulated and adminstered by overbearing repeater coordination bodies plays a part on moving from FM to something more useful. If you have been reading my ramblings you know that I feel we could likely so with less repeater coordination. I feel more shared non protected pairs should exist for any system less than 100 watts and 100 feet etc, should just use those.

You've also likely noticed how I feel about mode disparity. Data has significantly more stringent regulations than other modes.. and well Spread Spectum... it's just unclear if this even exists as a mode, since we classify our transmissions by the content they carry, which is also just stupid.

I'd like to see the tables turned to promote advancements in the hobby. Make FM ugly and over regulated. Make voice also the ugly red headed step child.

It's time for QAM and other types of modern modulation.

But there are no radio's you say? Well that is where changing regulation will force a manufacturing change. An example of this is when PL became required for repeaters in the late 80's and early 90's. This mandate was from coordinaton bodies and in a few years user end radios began to have PL encoders in them as a standard. (Prior to that you had to wire in your own PL deck.)

Then there is the M17 labs that we don't hear really anything about. And for that matter in 2015 TAPR mentioned they's like to see the OFDM work of John, KD6OZH advanced...

In short FM is 40 year old technology. And most of the current Digital Voice modes are not using modulation that is a whole different than conventional analog FM. The only way to achieve better data rates is move to modulation that is significanly different than FM.

Some times I think the ARDC ought to post bounty grants to help move certain things forward.

The new QMX+

AmateurRadio.com

Steve G1KQH

25 May 2024 at 14:02

Last week without any fanfare, Hans Summers small company QRP Labs, launched the bigger QMX+. A full blown 160m-6m CW and Digital modes QRP rig. (SSB to come in a future firmware release). The radio is available as either a kit, or as a ready...

💾

Status of Further Notice (FNPRM) ?

Steve

25 May 2024 at 03:02

In January I filed express comments on what bandwidth limit for above 30 Mhz should be set if any to replace the symbol rates for data in relation to the furhter notice for WT Docket 16-239.

I considered writing a longer paper, but Steve Stroh had already done that, covering everything nicely. The other reason I opted for the express route is because in the back of my mind I figued the good old (freaking) FCC would sit on this like the main HF part for god only knows how long. I even remarked on how it was unclear when a decision would be made by the commission.

I must be getting more impatient as I get older, as even at work and in other projects I particpate in, I look at what the outcome is and when it will be achived Before donating my time. Short summary: I like things the bear fruit.

So are we going to have to get congress woman Lesko involved again to kick the FCC in the rear end again?

For what its worth, in a somewhat private circle I have brought up the idea of having the whole amateur regulation business outsourced since the FCC does such a poor job. It seems almost inconceivable to accomplish, but I do believe we'd be better off that way.

Zero Retries 0153

Steve Stroh N8GNJ

24 May 2024 at 22:30

Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. Now in its third year of publication, with ~~1600+~~ 1700+ subscribers.

About Zero Retries

Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor

Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus

In this issue:

Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0153

Request To Send

Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ

1700+ Subscribers!

In Zero Retries 0150, a mere three issues / weeks ago, Zero Retries achieved 1600+ subscribers. It’s rare that new subscribers tell me where they heard about Zero Retries, and Substack only parses out a small number that came from other Amateur Radio newsletters on Substack. Thus I don’t really know where this wave of new subscribers came from.

Welcome, new subscribers, to Zero Retries!

Paid Subscribers Update

My thanks to Joe Hamelin W7COM for becoming a Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week! W7COM shared this message with his paid subscription:

Good Geekness

Financial support is a real vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.

Major Conference Countdowns

HAM RADIO 2024 in Friedrichshafen, Germany on 2024-06-28 thru 30, in 02 weeks!
JARL Ham Fair 2024 in Tokyo, Japan on 2024-08-24 and 25, in 13 weeks!

See other events at the Zero Retries Guide to Zero Retries Interesting Conferences.

SEA-PAC 2024

SEA-PAC 2024 pin designed by Adam Lea KC7NKP. Image courtesy of SEA-PAC.

Zero Retries will be attending SEA-PAC 2024 in Seaside, Oregon, USA on Saturday June 1st and Sunday June 2nd, 2024. There will be a Zero Retries booth, as well as having a table in the flea market to cleanout some of the excess ephemera from N8GNJ Labs. We will also have a bit of Zero Retries collectible items, so if you are a Zero Retries fan, come early. We’ll also have lots of DLARC stickers! (Zero Retries stickers are still in development.)

Update on Let’s Get Some More Manuals Scanned

In Zero Retries 0152, I asked Zero Retries readers to contribute to a project to get more electronics manuals scanned for Internet Archive. I’m happy to report that more than $600 was raised after that appeal.

Hamvention 2024 - Not Much Zero Retries Interesting

I don’t have anything substantive to add to the mentions in Zero Retries 0152 about some Zero Retries Interesting-ish announcements at Hamvention 2024. If you Zero Retries readers saw something I missed, please let us all know in the comments.

The most Zero Retries Interesting item I learned of was the ComJoT CJ-1 “Android portable radio”. See the article below for more detail.

Kudos to Cale Mooth K4HCK of Amateur Radio Daily for capturing some brief audio interviews with Zero Retries Interesting exhibitors at Hamvention 2024, including HamSCI, Photon Radio, Libre Space Foundation SatNOGS, AMSAT CubeSatSim, and AREDN. I really liked K4HCK’s technique - quick, audio-only interviews, made available within a few days of being recorded (a few were posted the same day). Noted for future events that I attend!

73,

Steve N8GNJ

FlexRadio 8000 Series HF Radios - Even More Capable… Except for FreeDV

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Kudos to the FreeDV team for implementing FreeDV via their clever ezDV dongle… and raspberries to FlexRadio for requiring that method for FreeDV to be available on these “more powerful” FlexRadio products.

Since the announcement of a new line of highest-end HF radios on Friday 2024-05-17, FlexRadio has posted some information about this new product line. The highest-end unit is the FLEX-8600M. Obviously this product line is newer and more powerful, with more potential for future upgrades with a more powerful processor and larger Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). But… (not being a contester or DXer), the improvements offered in the 8000 product line are lost on me. If you’re curious, YouTubers Kyle Krieg AA0Z of Kyle - AA0Z and Jason Johnston KC5HWB of Ham Radio 2.0 scored 1:1 interviews with FlexRadio’s Mike Walker VA3MW, and both of them sounded impressed.

But one lack of a feature in the FlexRadio 8000 product line really stood out to me… no inclusion of the FreeDV digital voice mode as a standard feature.

To be fair… all of the other “big” Amateur Radio HF radio manufacturers - Alinco, Elecraft, Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu join FlexRadio in not supporting FreeDV without an outboard dongle. But those others didn’t boast of doubling processing power and quadrupling the size of the FPGA in a new “SDR” HF radio design in 2024.

I think the dichotomy of the potential of Software Defined Radio… and the reality of what manufacturers choose to do with the potential capabilities of Software Defined Radio technology was illustrated perfectly in these two developments at Hamvention 2024:

Announcement of the FlexRadio 8000 series by FlexRadio
Announcement of the ezDV Adapter by TAPR and the FreeDV team

ezDV is a handheld hardware device that allows easy use of FreeDV, whether on the go or at home. Powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, its built-in Wi-Fi support allows completely wireless setup (with supported radios) along with enabling more modern functionality such as FreeDV Reporter reporting and wireless firmware updates.

So… on the one hand, FlexRadio debuts a much more capable line of HF radios, with even more processor power and an even larger FPGA. But, despite all that “power”, the one thing that these radios apparently can’t do… is to operate the FreeDV digital voice mode.

Enter the ezDV which is the FreeDV mode implemented in a small dongle (with the not very powerful ESP32-S3 processor). The ezDV can connect to current FlexRadio units via Wi-Fi, which then allows a FlexRadio unit, apparently including the 8000 series, to then operate FreeDV.

Keep in mind that there’s nothing in FreeDV that’s dependent on specific hardware. FreeDV is open source software and there’s ample support available for implementing it into any software defined radio platform that has sufficient processing power.

Candidly… if I worked for FlexRadio… I would treat the requirement of an ezDV to operate FreeDV on current generation FlexRadio units as an embarrassment. A team of part-time developers were able to implement FreeDV… but FlexRadio (with native access to vastly more capable processing power of the current generation FlexRadio units) couldn’t… or perhaps more damning… wouldn’t implement FreeDV as a native mode.

I say wouldn’t, because a previous version of FlexRadio’s SmartSDR software could install FreeDV, to be able to run it on the radio.

No matter what the “advanced features” of the FlexRadio 8000 series, the lack of FreeDV as a native feature in SmartOS, is (in my mind) a significant failing on the part of FlexRadio. That FlexRadio can’t, or won’t, implement such a fundamental (in the mid 2020s) new mode says to me that FlexRadio is focused on the past of Amateur Radio:

Emission Modes - USB, LSB, CW, RTTY, AM, Synchronous AM, FM, NFM, DFM

RTTY isn’t quite a century old; but the rest of those modes are more than a century old.

Instead of adding a new mode that was created within the 21st century and is “native digital” (could only be implemented in a digital radio), FlexRadio has chosen to add “dancing on the head of a pin” features, rather than a feature that reflects advanced capabilities of Amateur Radio, such as FreeDV’s amazing robustness in the presence of noise and interference. In my opinion, such decisions by FlexRadio pretty much negate the potential of Software Defined Radio in the FlexRadio product line.

Connect Systems Versus DVSI

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Unfortunately, the Connect Systems newsletter(s) are only available via email - there’s no web version. Thus this recent newsletter is “reprinted” here in its entirety for the Zero Retries readership, and perpetuity of the Zero Retries web version.

This particular CS newsletter is Zero Retries Interesting because it illustrates the challenges of Amateur Radio manufacturers in the era of a dominant technology vendor who can exert overpowering influence on radio systems. Or can they? See commentary after the CS article.

Connect Systems - Blog of the M17 Project - 2024-05-18
To the furtherance of the M17 project, I want to add D-STAR to the CS7000 M17 PLUS radio. The basic work has already been done in the MMDVM. The only real issue is the Vocoder. While there are some D-STAR vocoders, none of them is as good as what DVSI sells.
The D-STAR vocoder was first used in the ICOM D-STAR radios over 20 years ago. That means that the underlying patents are now expired. However, that does not mean the Copyright has expired because Copyrights are now good for about 99 years thanks the Micky Mouse and Disney.
To get around Copyrights with a Vocoder, you take the patents and write from scratch the code to make the D-STAR vocoder. As long as you did not copy the vocoder made by DVSI, you are clear. However, by writing the new code, you might now be infringing on some new patent of DVSI or some other company.
The get around the potential patent and copyright issue, I made an offer to DVSI. For every CS7000 M17 and CS7000 M17 PLUS radio we sold, I would give them a $2.00 royalty against them making a claim that the D-STAR vocoder in the radio infringed against their patents or copyrights. This is in addition to the royalty they already get for the AMBE II Vocoder we use to support the DMR features. We were not asking them for the firmware of their D-STAR vocoder.
The royalty concept was [completely] rejected. If I want to use the D-STAR vocoder, I need to pay them an up-front fee of about $350,000 plus royalty for every radio I sell. My alternative was to buy their AMBE 3000 series chip for $22.
For a company that is going to sell between a hundred thousand radios and a million radios like Motorola and ICOM, that up-front fee is no big deal. For a smaller company, that up-front fee is outrageous.
While that $22 fee for the AMBE 3000 chip is acceptable, it puts us at a significant technical disadvantage compared to the larger companies. The first problem is the AMBE 3000 chip takes a significant amount of power which means the battery life will be significantly less compared to the larger companies. The second issue is the AMBE chip takes room on the PCB which means my radio will now be larger compared to the larger companies.
In my opinion DVSI is in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust laws. Because of their policies, it is not possible for a smaller company to compete against the larger companies as described above. However, to fight them, would cost more in legal fees than their outrageous up-front fees.
My suggestion for the Amateur community is to make the best vocoder you can and if DVSI then says you are breaking their patents, ask which one so you can then fix the problem. If they complain about copyright infringement, ask how they can be in violation of their copyrights if they have not released their code to copy. If you reverse engineered their code, go out of your way so you are not infringing.
Here is an interesting question. If I bought a AMBE 3000 series chip and put it in the radio but did not hook it up and then I duplicated their code and ran it in the radio, would I be infringing on DVSI intellectual property?

My thanks to friend of Zero Retries Steve Lampereur KB9MWR for an extended email and phone discussion about this topic, which greatly helped me frame what follows.

I understand Connect Systems wanting to make the best possible, “most features” radio that it can. Clearly a portable radio that can do FM, DMR, M17, and D-Star would be more interesting and offer more value than a radio that couldn’t do D-Star.

But the above situation illustrates perfectly why M17 (and its underlying CODEC - Codec 2) was developed as an open source technology in the first place. It’s open source, thus no patent fees, no royalty fees, no intellectual property, copyright, or other such encumbrances.

That is the point of open source technology!

That’s not to say that using open source technology is cheap to implement, or easy to implement, or mature, or robust, or any other guarantees.

But when you use open source technology, you’re a lot less likely to have a company quietly suggest “Nice little digital voice radio business you have there… would be a shame if all your profits, and more, had to be used for a legal defense against a patent lawsuit.”

Unfortunately, given the size of the Amateur Radio market, I don’t see any reason why DVSI would have any incentive to “play nice” with Connect Systems and offer a reasonable deal such as what Connect Systems proposes. In fact, there’s a disadvantage to do. If DVSI gave Connect Systems a reasonable (for Amateur Radio) deal, then Motorola and other big radio manufacturers could demand (with some clout) that DVSI offer them the same good deal that Connect Systems got.

If DVSI is ever challenged about their stance towards a small Amateur Radio manufacturer, they can point out that “it only costs $22 per radio / chip to incorporate our superior, proven, industry-standard digital voice technology”.

The failing in Amateur Radio digital voice isn’t that we don’t have a free or cheap version of DVSI / AMBE digital voice CODEC chips… it’s that Amateur Radio manufacturers haven’t offered… and Amateur Radio Operators haven’d demanded the use of Codec 2 digital voice.

Amateur Radio has an elegant way to simply work around “the DVSI / AMBE issue” - use M17 (and within M17, Codec 2). It’s not widely recognized yet1, but M17 is now (finally) a viable digital voice system for Amateur Radio that’s truly an alternative to DMR, SF, SF, P25, etc. There’s even “data” in there (I’m told, but I’m still teasing that out).

BUT, and it’s a huge, enormous, perhaps insurmountable BUT… The big Amateur Radio manufacturers want to ignore the existence of Codec 2, M17, and FreeDV because they feel they’ll make more money (and less cost in overhead, engineering, customer support hassle) by continuing the previous paradigm of using DVSI’s AMBE CODEC chips, for which they can “peanut butter” the costs into their (more profitable) commercial radio product lines.

Hedging Bets by Including D-Star?

I understand why Connect Systems wants to “hedge its bets” on their upcoming M17 radio by trying to include D-Star, but I think that’s a bad choice beyond the issues CS has encountered in dealing with DVSI. Some issues I see2 in attempting to incorporate D-Star in Connect Systems M17 radios:

The primary (most enthusiastic) market for D-Star radios is in Japan, and my impression is that Connect Systems (Amateur Radio) markets mostly into the US Amateur Radio market.
From my (admittedly imperfect / incomplete) observations, I don’t see any momentum in D-Star in this era. I’m not hearing about enthusiastic new D-Star users (D-Star radios remain “Hmm… really gotta think about this” expensive), nor any new D-Star repeaters going on the air. Yes, there are a lot of D-Star repeaters, and D-Star radios out there, but that was (again, from my impressions) mostly from the initial wave of excitement two decades ago now for D-Star the first digital voice system that was designed for Amateur Radio. From my observations, the majority of the energy and momentum for Amateur Radio digital voice has shifted to DMR3.
D-Star capability isn’t needed for this radio to sell; D-Star capability won’t be a differentiating factor like M17 capability will be. If one wants to buy a radio with M17 built-in, Connect Systems is currently the only vendor (that will be) offering such a product. If one wants D-Star capability in a portable radio, Icom and Kenwood offer that capability now, in more mature, supported products.
Despite Icom being an early advocate of the open source D-RATS software for D-Star radios, D-RATS has essentially been deprecated (if I understand the situation correctly) because of its use of Python 2 and that being deprecated in favor of Python 3. If Icom was really interested in promoting D-Star, it would have allocated some funding for professional developers to update D-RATS to be usable with more modern computer operating systems (port it to Python 3). That Icom has not, to date, done so, speaks to its waning support for D-Star.
Trying to add D-Star to the Connect Systems M17 radios adds complexity to the radio, beyond the DVSI / AMBE chipset issues that Connect Systems has encountered. Can the radio support easy, mixed-mode FM / DMR / M17 and D-Star?Connect Systems’ M17 radios already include backwards compatibility with DMR and FM - I think that can be considered “good enough” backwards compatility.

Impressions of the ComJoT CJ-1 Android Portable Radio

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Last moment update - I reached out to ComJoT to perhaps arrange a post-article interview and “Joe” of ComJoT Sales was very responsive, and quickly updated the CJ-1 web page to include a prominent mention of the “audio passthrough” capability of the CJ-1. I hope to do an interview with ComJoT about the CJ-1 in a future issue of Zero Retries. Unfortunately, time didn’t permit a rewrite of the article, and I didn’t want to postpone it given that the CJ-1 was the most Zero Retries Interesting development from Hamvention 2024.

…

A few observations about this new portable “Amateur Radio” unit solely from information provided by the manufacturer. TL:DR - I’m intrigued.

The world’s first Open Source Dual Band Android Amateur Radio!
No need to have an Android Radio with Old, Legacy Operating System
CJ-1 is running Android 14 and has AES256 Encryption
DMR Tier 1 and 2 + FM Analog (136-174MHz, 400-480MHz)

It quickly becomes apparent that while Amateur Radio is a market for the CJ-1, it’s not ComJoT’s primary market. The primary clue is the price - $999. Another is mentions of this radio appealing to “amateur radio aficionados” and “amateur radio enthusiasts”. Yet another is prominent mention of its AES 256 encryption capability, which of course is not allowed on Amateur Radio.

But there’s a lot to like on this unit. Like previous “Android phone with a radio grafted on” units, the CJ-1 is primarily an Android mobile phone so there’s an always-on (as long as you’re within cellular range with the bill paid up) Internet connection. With always-on Internet, there is live access to RepeaterBook and RFinder repeater lookup.

In looking at the RFinder page… their implementation of “Android phone with radio grafted on” looks very similar to the CJ-1 with a few cosmetic differences. It seems likely that both units are made by the same radio manufacturer.

The radio side is similarly conventional:

DMR Tier 1 and 2 + FM Analog (136-174MHz, 400-480MHz)
Power Output VHF: 5W/1W, UHF: 4W/1W

Though it’s not mentioned on the CJ-1 product page or the CJ-1 brochure (mentioned in passing on a Hamvention 2024 walkthrough video on YouTube), a key differentiation of the CJ-1 from other “Android phone with a radio grafted on” units is that the audio path is two-way between the Android subsystem and the radio subsystem.

Previous implementations of “Android phone with a radio grafted on” units were limited to an Android app for controlling the radio, and the lookup features. (You couldn’t really run Android software on the radio subsystem.) The two-way audio path means that data modes such as packet radio and APRS could “easily” be implemented in an Android app on the CJ-1 and used on Amateur Radio.

ComJot seems to equate Android with “Open Source” with statements like:

The ComJoT CJ-1, dubbed as the first Open Source Android Amateur Radio, is a feature-packed device that marries traditional communication methods with modern technology.
Open Source Advantage Being open source, the ComJoT CJ-1 encourages innovation and customization, allowing users to adapt the device to their specific needs and preferences.

At least there’s no mention of a ComJot Android store, so it seems likely that user-developed Android apps can be loaded onto the unit via Internet, micro SD card, or USB-C.

The $999 price of the CJ-1 can quickly be rationalized by an extensive set of additional features that, with clever software, could be taken advantage of in a portable Amateur Radio unit:

“Octa-core” 2 GHz CPU
MicroSD card slot (though they use the older terminology of “TF” card.
4” color display with touch screen.
Camera (Front and Rear).
Wi-Fi (both 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz).
Bluetooth (Low Energy 5.0 - reasonably current).
Overall, pretty rugged.
3 Ah battery.
USB-C charging and data.

Despite some overzealous marketing phraseology such as

The Android interface makes it familiar to younger, tech-savvy generations, while its amateur radio features appeal to traditional radio enthusiasts, fostering cross-generational communication, learning and excitement about Amateur Radio.

And a few unexplained issues (there’s a “flat contact” external Speaker / Microphone connector on the right side of the radio, but no mention of such an accessory being available)…

As I looked into this unit more and more, it kind of grew on me. Granted, I’ve never seen one, let alone actually used one so I have no idea if this radio is well-developed, or not. But the CJ-1 seems to have more potential for Zero Retries Interesting applications than the $749 Kenwood TH-D75A. Just one example (imaginary) application could be a smart APRS digipeater (implemented in an Android app) that could be remotely controlled and powered indefinitely via the USB-C port and a big USB-C power bank.

One appealing factor of the CJ-1 for me is that it’s big and rugged instead of small and petite. There are only a few physical buttons, and the rest of the controls are via touch screen, thus all functions could be reasonably discoverable in the graphical user interface, a welcome change from inscrutable multifunction keys requiring carrying a mini manual (or a PDF on another device). It also has a large capacity (and swappable) battery.

I wish ComJoT well with the CJ-1 and I plan to reach out to them and ask to be notified about Amateur Radio applications as they are developed.

ZR > BEACON

By Steve Stroh N8GNJ

Short mentions of Zero Retries Interesting items.

Mostly DIY RF New Products Announced

Todd Carney K7TFC announced a number of new proudly “Hardware for Hardware-Defined Amateur Radio” products in his Spring 2024 newsletter, including:

Bidirectional PG-TIA IF Amplifier
GPAA-1 General-Purpose Audio Amp
Dual-Gate J310 JFET

and a number of others. I highlight DIY RF here in Zero Retries because I’m in awe of K7TFC and other “solo” Amateur Radio hardware vendors who keep Amateur Radio interesting and exciting by offering unique products, no matter how mundane.

What is Mostly DIY RF, Anyway?
That really should be a “who” and not a “what” question. Mostly DIY RF is just a trade name for me, Todd Carney, K7TFC. I'm a garden-variety amateur-radio enthusiast, and I don't mind admitting I'm also an amateur at manufacturing and business as well. Naturally, I try to do my best at all three, but nevertheless as a true amateur (from the Latin amare: to love; doing something for the love of it).
As a business, MDRF is the smallest possible: it's just me, K7TFC. There's no other workers or employees, and there's certainly no other investors or sources of capital. The good side of this is that I don't have to answer to anyone else, nor do I need to meet their expectations of profit or capital gains. I can offer products to fellow amateurs that no properly-capitalized company would ever bother with, and I can do so at prices that are lower than what a high-overhead firm could get away with. In fact, my business overhead is the same one I live under, and though I do have some dedicated space for MDRF work, my kitchen table has been pressed into service more than once.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) KISS TNC Specification

This was mentioned in a support exchange of emails regarding the Island Magic B. B. Link Adapter by Georges Auberger WH6AZ:

The B.B. Link adapter solves one problem: exposing the built-in TNC packet modem from the Kenwood TH-D74/5 radios to devices that can not use the Bluetooth Classic serial profile to access it. It does this by bridging Bluetooth Classic protocol to the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol and exposes it following the BLE KISS TNC specification.

I’m continually impressed that Amateur Radio generates bits of hard-won wisdom such as Specification for KISS over BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), documented reasonably, that others can build upon. And that Amateur Radio generates small, focused, but critical devices such as the B. B. Link.

I’ll guess that Mike Chepponis K3MC and Phil Karn KA9Q would not have imagined that their KISS Protocol (which I remember being described at the time of its creation as a “quick hack” to use existing AX.25 TNCs for TCP/IP) would become so integral to Amateur Radio data communications. Not only is KISS in regular use in all manner of Amateur Radio systems, it’s continually being expanded into new systems and devices such as the Kenwood TH-D75A portable radio and the B. B. Link nearly four decades later. Not bad for a “quick hack”.

The Radio Today guide to the Icom IC-905

Andrew Barron ZL3DW mentioned his new book on the IC-905 mailing list (must be a subscriber to view):

hi everyone, I am pleased to announce that my new book, The Radio Today guide to the Icom IC-905 is now available from the RSGB bookshop and Amazon in print and Kindle versions. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1N6H5J5

Some of you will be familiar with my other books, see https://www.qsl.net/zl3dw/Books.html

I extended the first few chapters to discuss the benefits and challenges of the radio. So, if you are still deciding about buying an IC-905, they may help you make the decision. If you already have the radio, there are plenty of tips about using it. I didn't buy the 10 GHz transverter, find out why!

Here is a note from the website.

The IC-905 is a great radio and definitely worth considering if you are interested in the microwave bands. The longer I used it the more I liked it. Some say that it is expensive, but there are many things to consider, such as the price of buying a different radio, plus transverters, plus a GPS disciplined reference oscillator. The IC-905 covers the complete band not just the single frequency of some transverters, and it is far easier to configure. You even get D-Star, cross-band operation, and video (to another IC-905).

The book has a longer introduction than usual to help you decide if the radio is a good option for you. I have discussed how you can use the rig, and the positives and negatives for using it for the QO-100 satellite, or DX.

73 and GD microwave DX,
Andrew ZL3DW

A new paradigm radio such as the Icom IC-905 “microwave” radio really deserves a book-length treatment from an independent perspective - kudos to ZL3DW for doing so. Even if you have no interest in buying an IC-905 (it’s too expensive, you’re already all set up for microwave), I think this book would still be an interesting read just to understand Icom’s choices and tradeoffs in creating such a radio.

RADAE - Radio Autoencoder; Machine Learning Applied to HF Digital Voice

David Rowe VK5DGR:

Given the encouraging results with RADAE, we’ve pivoted our ARDC project plan to focus on RADAE, and have paused development of Codec 2 and FreeDV modes. RADAE appears to be our strongest candidate for satisfying the top three goals we set for ourselves when applying for the ARDC grant:
Improve speech quality to a level comparable to commercial codecs.
Develop a “rag chew” FreeDV mode with subjective speech quality comparable to SSB at high SNRs.
Improve low SNR operation such that FreeDV is superior to SSB over poor HF channels.
We are on track to meet (and indeed exceed) the first two goals, but I think the final goal has yet to be demonstrated (e.g. SSB and the current incarnation of RADAE fall over at roughly the same SNR). There are a few bugs and many practical issues to work through before we have a real world version of RADAE that anyone can use. Plus there will be a few “gotchas” we haven’t thought of yet. Plenty for me to do in the coming months!

What blows me away about this work is that it’s mentioned in passing like it’s “business as usual technical development”. But unlike a lot of machine learning, this development (seems to be) done at “Amateur Radio scale” - with conventional desktop computers and embedded computers, not some desktop supercomputer or online server farm.

Read the whole article (and a previous mention from 2024-03) to get an idea of just how cool this is, including sample audio clips. This is yet another example of unique technological innovation in Amateur Radio!

All-In-One-Cable (AIOC) Units Available for Sale

AIOC GitHub page:

The AIOC is a small adapter with a USB-C connector that enumerates itself as a sound-card (e.g. for APRS purposes), a virtual tty ("COM Port") for programming and asserting the PTT (Push-To-Talk) as well as a CM108 compatible HID endpoint for CM108-style PTT (new in firmware version 1.2.0).

The above description “buries the lede” a bit about how cool this idea really is, but the concept is quickly explained in the photos. An AIOC is a “dongle” that plugs into many portable radios instead of requiring a dedicated programming cable, and a (different) dedicated audio interface. In short, it’s an elegant solution for using portable radios for data communications, and (more easily than programming from the front panel) getting them programmed for use with multiple repeaters, etc. It’s also refreshing that AIOC uses USB-C which is now the standard USB connection in 2024 and beyond.

But when I last mentioned AIOC in Zero Retries 0090, AIOC was a project.

Now AIOC is available as a very reasonably priced product available from the NA6D web store:

NA6D All In One Cable printed circuit board — NA6D AIOC - Image courtesy of NA6D.com

NA6D also offers a nice for its AIOC printed circuit board, which makes for a nice, complete-looking unit. Kudos to Nigel Armstrong NA6D for this “nice bit of kit”. I’m going to have to verify that the AIOC supports a couple of my favorite portable radios, and if that’s the case, get one or two on order.

AMSAT Argentina to Launch Transponder Balloon

AMSAT-UK - 2024-05-22:

On May 26, at 1300 GMT AMSAT-LU plans (weather permitting) to launch a balloon carrying a linear multimode transponder V➤U, CW, SSB, FM, APRS LU7AA-11 and VIDEO.
It could last 9 hours if it reaches 82,000 feet height landing in Uruguay, or 6 hours landing at Gualeguaychú. The flight has been approved by ANAC/EANA.
Flight forecast: http://lu7aa.org/pronostico.asp?callsign=LU7AA-12
An attempt will also be made to launch LU8YY PicoBalloon emitting WSPR at 20m, if the winds help it could go around the world.
In Merlo, from May 24 to 26, presentations will be made to schools and universities. Depending on the weather it could be launched on May 25.
This experience will provide 4 FM channels + 3 CW + 3 SSB + 1 digital channel and 1 SSTV, all simultaneous. It will allow field testing on a balloon the future satellite platforms planned by AMSAT Argentina.
For latest updates check http://amsat.org.ar/?f=merlo.

Kudos to AMSAT Argentina for this project! A transponder payload on a balloon is seriously Zero Retries Interesting! I just haven’t seen any explanations of how to build such a transponder; it would seem like this should be something that’s doable in software within a Software Defined Radio system. Amateur Radio hasn’t done nearly enough experimentation with terrestrial transponders like this great experiment, and I think we should be doing a lot more of that now that software defined transceivers are becoming more accessible to Amateur Radio Operators.

Random Wire Review 91: May 24, 2024 - An All Zero Retries Interesting Issue!

Tom Salzer KJ7T put out a blockbuster issue of his Randon Wire Review newsletter in Issue 91. Every bit of it was Zero Retries Interesting, and merited at least a 3x re-read to really grok all the cool stuff he discussed. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the (new to me) FreedomLINK radios. KJ7T also said:

Personal note: As I review some past issues of the Random Wire, I am recognizing something I had not really verbalized before: if it has to do with radio, I’m all in! Amateur radio is my hobby of choice but I like radio in all of its manifestations. It doesn’t have to be something within my amateur radio license to be interesting.

QSL, KJ7T… QSL! I too like radio in all its manifestations, and that’s an elegant “elevator pitch” to explain our common curiosity about all kinds of radio technology.

New official [JNOS] 2.0p, IPV6, APRS, VARA, and important AT loop fix

Maiko Langelaar VE4KLM on the NOS-BBS mailing list:

Good day,
In case anyone missed it, there is a new official version - JNOS 2.0p.
Don't feel you need to switch over, I can just see (not) the miles of cars lined up.
BUT there is an important fix to an 'AT' loop issue that can lockup JNOS really good.
The issue has actually been around since the early JNOS 1.11f days (or before), so you might want to take a look at, the new code is in the development repository.
For anyone asking for 'features' or 'fixes', I am not ignoring you, really I'm not.
It's all on my todo list, but 'life' is just in the way right now - called priorities :|
Maiko / VE4KLM
http://www.langelaar.net

My thanks for Bill Vodall W7NWP for mentioning this on another email list that we’re both on. I’d completely forgotten about the NOS-BBS mailing list, and have now (attempted to) resubscribed.

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